The day she first met Kobe Bryant, Reshanda Gray had one question she couldn’t wait to ask.
The tall, gangly 13-year-old wanted to know the secret to Kobe’s success, how he had gone from a regular kid to a basketball phenom to a Los Angeles icon by his mid-20s.
Gray was at a crossroads in 2006 when Kobe visited her South Central Los Angeles middle school. A troubled upbringing marred by the drug use of her parents and a lack of other positive role models made it difficult for Gray to maintain hope of escaping her blighted neighborhood or to envision a path to a better life.