Usually, girls weren't encouraged to go to college and major in math and science. My high school calculus teacher, Ms. Paz Jensen, made math appealing and motivated me to continue studying it in college.

My dad was a high school teacher and made no money.

I was always drawn to teachers who made class interesting. In high school, I enjoyed my American and English literature classes because my teachers, Jeanne Dorsey and Dani Barton, created an environment where interaction was important.

I started out as a high school teacher in inner-city Chicago and realized quite quickly that my students weren't that motivated.

At times during high school and college I wished to be a sportswriter.

Well, we were all in high school and we got together, and in college - we were in art college together.