In the quiet of the middle of the night, as I was watching cats sleep and collecting samples, unbeknownst to me, I was duplicating the very experiment that my professor had performed 5 years prior. My results were the exact opposite of his. Rather than minimizing them, he celebrated. 9 research papers and a masters thesis later, that experience became instrumental 36 years later, as I began the quest of connecting human aging to endothelial cells. My mentor allowed me to become a leader.