"My dad used to always tell us, 'I'm just another guy,'" Laila Ali says, "even though he was a global icon."

Ali is the daughter of boxing legend Muhammad Ali. From a young age, she said, she shared his mentality.

"I just wanted to be the average girl," she tells CNBC. "I always had that quality in myself. It shaped my outlook in the world."

Of course, growing up, Muhammad Ali was exceptional.

Born in 1942 to middle-class parents, Ali started boxing when he was 12, winning Golden Gloves titles before heading to the 1960 Olympics in Rome, where he won a gold medal as a light heavyweight. Following the Olympics, he became a professional boxer and heavyweight champion.