You have to keep being curious. The notion that the present is different than the past, and the future will be different than the present, and the present is past, as we say it. I think I, by nature, am an optimist. Maybe I was driven to escape from my childhood and to be something, create my own world or career the way I wanted it to be. And I keep doing that in very interesting ways.

I am really proud of the development of the people on my team as they grow in purpose; they like what they see in the mirror.

Humans are pack animals. In Biblical times, the great market cities in Europe or the United States, people want to be with other people. And in a way, the more that we're isolated, whether we're living on farms and we're only talking to our cell phone, the greater the need we have for group experience. So while people are saying that no one is going to go shopping because it's just inconvenient, and it's not as easy as buying online, why are people going to concerts? Why are people going to museums? Why are they going to sporting events?

I think I have terminal curiosity. So I always think that the future will be better and different than the past. As I look back and take inventory of myself, I'm very open-minded and flexible. People say the older you get, you get set in your ways. I don't think so.

I was very lucky to find a career which let me travel, sourcing stores in other countries, just the opportunities of the career in design and finance and all the things that make retailing - my career - interesting to me. That's why I started looking at community responsibility. I felt I should give of myself.

Ask yourself: What forms the decisions you make? What is it that gnaws at you? What are your crucible moments?

Growing up, I knew you were supposed to have a profession - and something better than being a shopkeeper, which is what my parents were.