When we feel pressured to have achieved certain things by a particular age, it could ultimately hinder us. It's great to have goals but those specific benchmarks can easily become irrelevant once you ask yourself, 'where am I having the most impact?' 'Am I going after the stories I want to tell?'

There are thousands of inspirational stories waiting to be told about young women who yearn for a great education. They are stories of struggle and stories of success, and they will inspire others to take action and work to change lives.

Don't worry about the chatter, do a good job, produce great work and do reporting that you're proud of.

I'm a big believer that there's more power in numbers and the more you can expand the stories that are relevant to both communities, the better. For example, a school that's terrible for black kids is terrible for brown kids. We have to figure out ways to navigate the school systems and make sure that we're investing in a public education system that's beneficial for all kids.

Honestly, the challenge about being a mom is when something goes wrong - someone's sick, getting someone to doctor's appointments.

I grew up in a family of educators - my dad was a professor, my mom was a high school grammar and French teacher - so certainly my entire life education was stressed as incredibly important. And I think especially for my parents, who are both immigrants, and when immigrants come to this country, they understand that education is something that no one can take from them. You might leave the country with absolutely nothing, but no one can take your education from you.

It doesn't upset me when people are annoyed or bothered by what may seem to them as a redundancy of topics about blacks and Latinos. As a reporter I welcome those types of conversations and dialogues. Even when it's uncomfortable, it's still necessary.