"Why do you love New York City so much?"

It's the first question I get asked when I tell people of my future plans: to be a Lady Boss in the city that never sleeps.

"It's dirty and crowded. It smells terrible. The commute is absolutely horrific. Not to mention it's so dangerous." Everyone says the same problems every time like a broken record through my head.

For some reason, these people don't see what I see. The hope that the concrete jungle use to relish in has somehow died over time. What was once the city people dreamed to live in has become the place people can't wait to get away from. Why?

When I'm in the city, I see stories. Walking my commute each morning and every evening, I see hundreds of them playing out right in front of me. See, my character is the hopeful one, the naive girl preparing to work for her dreams. Walking down W. 33rd next to me is the tired insurance man. Having done this for 30+ years, he's ready to relocate closer to home – to be with his family. He probably was given this job out of college.

Though he dreaded it every day, it's given him the support he needs to send his four children to the colleges of their dreams. Or maybe it's his 12th job, he's an alcoholic and can't seem to hold one down for too long. We walk past a homeless couple, claiming their pregnant whilst smoking cigarettes. Who knows how they ended up there? Who knows if they're actually homeless? Or maybe they have the most tragic story that only Lin-Manuel could give justice to recounting.

We all come from totally different areas yet the same city brought us together. If we have nothing else in common, we share this sidewalk for three seconds in passing. The streets are filled with untapped talent.

There's a reason so many stories stem from this one island. It's magic.

Someone is laughing at their long-time friend they just reconnected with at the new restaurant just opened by the wife who brought their child to see a Broadway show for the first time–giving a lifetime of inspiration they didn't know they yearned for. At the same show is someone who regularly looks out from their penthouse window, wondering what they should spend their money on next. Someone is sitting at the bottom of that building, praying for a warm meal. And someone passing by them is pissed they just missed their train home.

The city connects us all.

American, more specifically, New York, has been thought of the melting pot since the waves of immigrants hurried here a hundred years ago. But that's not true. Yes, we may have the same type of blood running through our veins but we all come from different places. Each of our stories is so unique and different. And it's this city, the city of dreams, that allows them to overlap, to come together.