To know colleague Anthony Rice is to understand how he pivoted to a promising future from a childhood of food stamps, living in state housing at times and visiting his parents in prison. To fully appreciate Rice is to discover how he overcame homelessness at age 20 to become a present-day high-performing and beloved member of the Kraken marketing group.
“I grew up in Lake Forest in South Orange County, south of Irvine,” said Rice in a recent lengthy and inspiring conversation. “I grew up with a single mother on the pretty poor side … My parents have been in and out of jail all of my life. I mean, what else do I know? There were times I’ve gone to jails every weekend to say hi to them, just to talk to my parents.”
Rice was forced to make some hard choices about limiting contact with his family members and certain friends who didn’t aspire to adult life and marriage he has since built. His father left home when Rice was five. The marketing specialist did spend some time with his dad during youth summers and Christmas holidays when the father moved to Oak Harbor on Whidbey Island, sparking a son’s fascination with the Pacific Northwest ever since…