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Colorado Health & Wellness | 2015 Summer & Fall Edition

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The Clark sisters, who both hope to put imagination to work pursuing careers in the gaming-industry at DU this fall, opened the doors of their Centennial home recently to share what it was like growing up with one of the country's most-acknowledged "mompreneurs" — Julie Aigner Clark, creator of Baby Einstein. While the girls were too old for their mom's line of videotapes and children's books that sought to enlighten tots through Mozart and Van Gogh rather than Barney and Elmo, they say their mom and dad gave them so much more. "Our parents really taught us to be creative," says Aspen, recalling how her father would put Vivaldi on the speakers at dinner when the girls were only preschoolers. Sierra remembers Mom setting timers on videogames and encouraging "imagination play," often taking part in their magical worlds. And, "every single night," Aspen says, her mother, a former English teacher and narrator of her videotapes, brought the girls' books to life with "crazy voices" and expressions. Sure the phenomenal success of their parents' business helped, particularly by opening the educational world of travel, the girls say. "For instance, we got to go see the Magna Carta rather than just read about it in a textbook," Aspen says. "But, even though we grew up in a house like this, they didn't spoil us," she adds, gesturing toward a massive wall of floor-to-ceiling windows framing a stunning view of a Rocky Mountain range in the home once owned by Bronco star Terrell Davis. "They are entrepreneurs. They came from a lower circumstance and raised themselves up, and that's how they raised us, not that everything is handed to you." Aigner Clark Daughters Offer a Peek into Family Life with 'Mompreneur' Flanking Mom: Sierra Clark, left of her mom, was named after the California mountain range because of her father's multi-generational roots in the state. Her sister's name, Aspen, right of mom, was chosen before her family moved to Colorado 17 years ago, when her parents were hiking in Utah and her mother saw her first Aspen tree. by Debra Melani Sitting in her parents' house on a lazy Sunday afternoon, Aspen Clark's eyes light up when asked to share the plot of her latest project: the first in a trilogy of novels. Evil circus owners, supernatural powers, murder and revenge all come together to round out the 20-year-old University of Denver student's first big literary attempt. At her mother's urging, Sierra Clark, 18, who is sitting next to her sister in an identical wingback chair, shares her latest accomplishment — composition of a four-and-a-half-minute, 18-instrument piece, one her high school concert band learned and played during the year's final performance this spring. And those are just the girls' side gigs. Health and Wellness Magazine • 51

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