I was born in Cleveland and raised by my mother, Rhonda, and adopted father, Andrew. My two siblings (Monty & Michaela) and I grew up poor as our parents worked hard to make ends meet, teaching us faith, perseverance, and commitment. My dad worked forging steel and rode a bicycle to work, even in the winter, because our family had one car, and it was best to keep it with my mom and us kids.

But from those humble beginnings, I attended the University of Hawaii, graduated on the Dean’s List with a degree in political science, and received a scholarship to study the Chinese language abroad, where I became an expert in Chinese reading, writing, and speaking. While in China, I worked leading big teams of hundreds of employees from dozens of countries before moving from China to Taiwan with a full scholarship to study for my MBA.

My experience abroad taught me several things: how China cheats American workers, how America can compete, and how we can get manufacturing back on track in Ohio’s 7th district.