I was born and raised in the Republic of Panama. My parents moved to the U.S. when I was 16 years old. I finished high school in the Charleston, South Carolina area. I graduated from Baptist College at Charleston (now Charleston Southern University) with a degree in political science and history. I attended law school for a year after graduating from college, but I had learned to fly airplanes while in college and chose to pursue that as my career. After a mid-life career change preciptated by medical issues, I graduated from the University of South Carolina School of Law in the Spring of 1997 and was admitted to the South Carolina Bar that fall.