In the cozy, tucked-away Gloucester village of my country’s capital, I was a dreamer with stars in my eyes ✨, growing up in a world where dreams felt out of reach. My parents—a tireless civil servant and a devoted peasant gardener—poured their hearts into feeding, clothing, and schooling the six of us. Technology, video games and the internet? It was a distant, magical whisper. No TV 📺, no generator ⚡️, just my dad’s sacred Nokia 900, off-limits unless you wanted a scolding! 😅 But oh, we had our trusty radio 📻, powered by Dad’s lovingly restocked batteries, opening a window to a world of wonder. Through BBC’s enchanting broadcasts, I fell in love with stories of the internet—especially one about a brave, terminally ill boy who wove a global tapestry of friendship through game streaming, discovered only after he left us. That story ignited a fire in my soul 🔥. In 2019, with university hopes fading as a public-school kid, my heart leapt when my uncle, visiting from the UK, gifted me my first smartphone 📱—a shimmering key to possibility! I begged my cousin, a brilliant website developer at a local tech hub, to guide me. With his help, I dove into a six-month Microsoft program. But the hub’s computers were rarely online 🌐, and the lessons couldn’t quench my thirst for knowledge. So, I turned to YouTube 📺, gobbling up tutorials, my heart racing at videos promising online riches 💰. I didn’t yet see how my skills fell short of my soaring dreams. My cousin, a tech wizard but no teacher, had me running errands instead of coding—still, I adored every moment near tech’s magic. By 2023, I was back in my mother’s garden 🌱, my heart heavy, barely affording internet. I’d earned an Associate Accounting degree and flirted with music 🎶, but tech—freelancing, oh my love! —stole my heart. A tech startup embraced me as their lead IT guy, even after I bared my novice soul. There, I learned by tackling real challenges, my confidence blooming like a wildflower 🌸. I set up accounts on Upwork, LinkedIn, and Braintrust, secured a VISA card 💳, and prepared to soar as the startup wobbled.