Having a bunch of medals and badges doesn’t necessarily mean you’ve achieved anything, you’ve got to do something beyond yourself to make a difference in life. Seek to be consequential in whatever you do.

If Ivanka Trump called, I think good people need to serve.

My husband and I each had careers and two babies at home. They just demand everything from you. All the domestic duties fell to me and this resentment builds, as I think happens to a lot of young parents who have competing careers.

The national media don't know me. They know the caricature that was created of me by journalists who were frankly jealous of my access. And it was a very negative caricature. There's this propensity for blaming a woman. It comes down to implicit bias. There are so many studies that show this.

When I get this kind of support, I feel validated in my decision to stand up for myself.

I had been sort of a rising star - an athlete, a scholar, a leader. My dream was to become a high-level national security adviser.

It's part of the reason I decided to speak out now. This was the tipping point for me. If it's O.K. for [David Petraeus ] to campaign for a job in the administration, then I'm going to campaign to get back out there, too.