Rob Dyrdek is a professional skateboarder and co-star of the MTV reality show Rob & Big.
I got into skateboarding because I idolized my sister's boyfriend, and he was a skater. I did not think it would become my life's destiny, but it was meant to be. I was 11 when I first started. I got sponsored at 12 and turned pro at 16.
When I turned pro in 1991, the only money I made was from my signature board sales. For Christmas one year, I only sold one board, so I got a royalty check for $2. It was at the time the sport was still evolving and immersing, and there wasn't any money involved.
But there was never anything else I ever thought about. Nothing mattered. I just knew I wanted to skate, and if I wasn't going to skate, then I would do something in the skateboard industry. It was never a question; it was just something I absolutely adore.
I'm a driven person, and I understand that I went through the growth period of this sport. Now that I'm older, I have a very clear, distinct vision for the future of [skateboarding], and that's what I'm implementing now, in what I would call the twilight years of my professional career.
--Excerpted from an interview with Kat Noel