Date: November 12, 2020

EARLY LIFE

• Mother was a Computer Science
• "just a bunch of women who had gone to MIT"
• Totally normal for women to have technical and scientific jobs
• "You know you can be what you can see"
• Did a lot of math with her mom
• Knew from a young age that she enjoyed problem-solving and logic
• True throughout growing up
• COMPUTING IS A CREATIVE ACTIVITY
  • Math and music (logic & creative)
• Went to Columbia as an undergrad, SECOND CLASS that admitted women
• Was involved in both campuses
• Interested in natural language processing (at first)
• Drawn to the theoretical side of thing
  • Blends mathematical and computing
• Was going to get some kind of programming job
• Double majored in math + CS
• Went to Yale, stayed on the theory side of things
• Looking at real world problems in a rigorous and foundational way
• Worked at Steven's Institute of Technology
  • Enjoyed academic environment
• Worked on privacy preserving computation