Introducing Myself Out Of My Anonymity!

Hey guys, I have been anonymous on my account for quite some time now. I am now above 500 followers so I think it would be a great idea to introduce myself to this great community. My name is Alex Cobb and I am 17 years old with 3,000$ invested long term in cryptocurrency. I started out with 1,000$ Traded for a few months and made 3,500$ and spent 500$ as a little reward for myself. I am holding Ripple, Siacoin, and Steem for the long term(all my Steem is in Steem Power). I am a cryptocurrency fanatic and hope to be very successful with my long term holds. I have a doberman pinscher puppy who is my best friend and the greatest dog I have ever had. Very intelligent breed. I am a fanatic about sports cars as well, not just supercars that are expensive but more of a JDM type of guy and am into cheaper used cars that are still very fast. For example, Bmw m3 2008, nissan 240sx, 350z and all that type of stuff.

I also wanted to ask 2 questions

1. How do I get myself verified on Steemit. (and what the benefits are)
2. How do I make a profile picture of myself that is on my email account.

Thanks!