As a child, I went to a school specialized in classical music training. I loved music, but I was more fascinated by how music made us feel, and the effects it had on emotions. This curiosity about how music, an external stimuli, could modify our feelings and thoughts sparked my interest in the brain. I started college not really knowing what career I wanted. It was not until my first research experience in a neuroscience lab that I realized that I doing basic research on the brain was a career! My undergraduate mentor was instrumental in giving me the scientific training I needed to be competitive for a top neuroscience PhD program.