I did not sit down and watch 'Baywatch' growing up. But I do specifically remember it coming on, and I remember it going off. I watched something that came on right before and then going back to that channel to watch what was coming on afterwards.

I'm from a place where young people traditionally do not have resources.

When I was in college, it was on the recommendation of a friend of mine. He recommended that I take an acting class, and so I kind of did. I was very open to feedback and open to suggestions. I had a little bit of space in my schedule, and I guess, as the story goes, I went into an acting class, and I kind of got the bug for it.

Acting was always in the back of my head.

I always knew I wanted to be an entrepreneur. I started my own software company in high school and went to college to study entrepreneurship.

The only way to sustain a career is to be as prolific as you can be, and open to opportunities.

I could have made money this way, and perhaps amused myself writing code. But I knew that at the end of my career, I would look back on years of building walls to divide people, and feel I had spent my life making the world a worse place.

When I signed with Bellator, I knew this would be a new positive chapter in my career.