The Unstoppables is a series about people whose ambition is undimmed by time. Below, Bethann Hardison explains, in her own words, what continues to motivate her.

I was a latchkey kid, raised in Brooklyn by my grandmother and my mother, who worked as domestics. I started going out on the streets on my own at 7. I’d come home from school, put on my play clothes, and from three o’clock until around six or seven, I’d wander the neighborhood with total freedom. Later I went to live with my father, who was a supervisor at the Albany housing projects in Crown Heights and an orthodox Muslim imam.

I didn’t have helicopter parents. None of that existed for me. Nobody was scheduling my day. I was allowed to make my own decisions, and that was a great lesson on how to make a success of yourself.

I went after things. Once, when I was 11, I saw a sign through a bus window for a tap dance studio. It was run by a very well-known hoofer. I got off the bus, went in, and he showed me some steps. He started giving me lessons and, eventually, I had a little trio, and he put me in his revue. He had to go to my parents first, of course, to prove there was nothing funny going on.

I got into the High School of Performing Arts, which was highly competitive, but decided to go to the George W. Wingate High School in Brooklyn instead. Wingate at the time was all white. This cool white guy with double-pleated pants and wingtip shoes came to our school to give a presentation. I was so impressed with the look of him and of the school, I said to my friend, “Let’s go there.”

We didn’t realize that what we were doing was busing. It just looked cool. And that school was a blessing from Allah. I ran track for the Police Athletic League and was the school’s first Black cheerleader.