From the time that I can remember, I worked to make money - either baby-sitting, or one year wrapping gifts at a department store at Christmas, so I could have my own money.

Christie Hefner frames paid work as a lifelong habit rooted in childhood, emphasizing self-reliance and the desire for financial autonomy. By listing ordinary jobs—babysitting and seasonal department-store gift wrapping—she underscores that her motivation was not glamour or status but the practical freedom that comes with “my own money.” The quote also subtly signals an early work ethic and comfort with the labor market, suggesting that independence was learned through incremental, everyday responsibilities. In a broader biographical reading, it positions her later corporate leadership as continuous with an early pattern: seeking agency through earning rather than relying on family resources or social position.