04/17/2026
I was 18 when I got my first car. On a Friday night in September 1992.
My mom and dad gave me the $1000 deposit as a graduation gift. Yes, that's all I needed for my used car)
My car payment was $100.80 per month (boy do I miss those days!)
And I had a loan of 4 years. This was my first credit purchase with NO co-signers.
But what made my car so special to me? It wasn't just that it was my first car, that I paid for it myself and later used it to trade up to another car I loved and owned for years.
It was a manual transmission, also known as a stick shift. I had never driven one. And I had THREE DAYS to learn how to drive one. It was no easy feat learning to drive a stick on flat land, in traffic, or while going up and down the hills of the SF/Oakland Bay Area.
Thanks to the support of my Life Long (a.k.a. BFF) and an ex-boyfriend, I did it. On that Monday morning, I drove to California State University Hayward (now East Bay) and maneuvered the hills, traffic, and parallel parking in my brand new stick shift. Incredibly, I made it to class on time and I was proud!
I learned that I could learn anything I wanted to in a short amount of time.
I learned that sometimes you have to drop that gear from 3rd to 2nd so you can drift and take that turn perfectly without having to brake.
I learned that sometimes, I needed to sit in neutral before moving forward. Other times, I could let the car naturally roll back on a hill or I may have to shift it into reverse.
There's times I moved the gear shift to a higher gear and others times I moved it to a lower one.
When my car couldn't get up and go, I let it coast down a hill, popped the clutch, and got it to start.
Whether in my corporate career or now as an entrepreneur, I always applied what I learned from driving my stick shift - know when to start, stop, remain neutral; slow down or speed up; learn quickly and adjust; not to give up; some things will come naturally others will need a little jump start.
One thing has always proved true - If you can drive a manual transmission, you can drive and master anything - a truck, a forklift, new skills, your .
I'm living proof.
