Every day at some point I encounter some sort of anti-American feeling.

I was working full time and going to school at night and on the weekends. It was just crazy. At one point a month had gone by, and Marc - my then boyfriend, now husband, and I hadn't gone out on a date. I was like, I don't want to be this person. I want to be a person who cares where she's investing her time and energy. And I want to be a good wife, daughter, and friend.

Every day at some point I encounter some sort of anti-American feeling.

I've tried really hard to care about things that were very different from my parents. I was curious if I could care about [money] on some fundamental level, and I couldn't. That wasn't the metric of success I wanted in my life. I've talked about this to my friends who are doctors and whose parents are doctors, or who are lawyers and their parents are lawyers. It's a funny thing to realize I feel called to this work both as a daughter and also as someone who believes I have contributions to make.

My parents have been incredibly supportive from perhaps the first real independent decision I made to become a vegetarian at 11, which was certainly not consistent with their diet at the time.

I am excited to work with NBC News to continue to highlight stories of organizations and individuals who make their communities and our world healthier, more just and more humane.

I think we need to care about the metrics of success in life, and I'm a pretty competitive person.