Claudia E. Blackwell

Hard work and dedication runs in my family. My parents came to this country from Germany when they were 20-years-old and built a wonderful life for our family. My father started an interior decorating business in Wisconsin when he arrived in the United States, but his dream was always to build a motel near Disney World in Orlando. He did just that designing a 50-unit motel five miles from Walt Disney World. Our home was actually connected onto the motel located in Kissimmee. Even though we were close to Disney, Kissimmee was still a very rural place growing up. I went to a high school where we got a day off for “rodeo day.” It was an interesting time for me growing up in a bi-lingual house with my parents English being limited, as I was sometimes fearful of getting up in front of a group of people to speak. So it is funny that I now love being in the courtroom and in front of people so much. I also grew up in a very strict household. If I brought a friend over, there were rules they...