Christine Quinn on Manifesting Success & Feeling 'Like a Fraud' for Not Graduating High School

Christine Quinn is opening up about her hard-earned road to success.

Today, the luxury real estate agent-turned-reality star is on top of the world: She'll appear in season 4 of Selling Sunset (streaming on Netflix Nov. 24), she has a new makeup collection with Ciaté London, and her first book, How to Be a Boss Bitch, is due in May 2022.

But "I did not come from this glamorous lifestyle," Quinn, 33, says in the new issue of PEOPLE.

DIANA KOENIGSBERG Christine Quinn in her glam room

Growing up in the Dallas, Texas, area, Quinn was home-schooled as a teen so that she could spend time with her mother, who was undergoing treatment for cancer. When her parents couldn't teach her at home anymore, she went to an alternative school. However, after a brush with the law — she spent four days in jail for marijuana possession — Quinn never graduated high school or earned her GED.

RELATED: See Inside Christine Quinn's Modern Hollywood Hills Mansion (and Baby C's Nursery!)

While she never completed a formal education, Quinn learned — working everywhere from Walmart to Taco Bell — that "being a hustler and having a great work ethic is the most important thing," she says.

Eventually, she moved to Los Angeles to pursue her dream of acting. When that didn't pan out, she got her real estate license, which ultimately launched her to reality TV fame on Selling Sunset two years ago as she became the scene-stealing fan-favorite, with her arsenal of sassy one-liners and eye-popping designer ensembles.

DIANA KOENIGSBERG Christine Quinn, husband Christian Richard and their son Christian in their living room

Today, Quinn lives in a modern Hollywood Hills mansion with her husband, software engineer Christian Richard, 43, and their 5-month-old son Christian (aka Baby C). And says she is living the life she always strived for.

"My career was always about manifestation," Quinn says. "I wanted to be in these beautiful houses so desperately, and I knew, one day, I would live in one."

Now that she does, Quinn says, "I feel like we're living the dream."

For more on Christine Quinn, pick up the new issue of PEOPLE, on newsstands everywhere now.