I first became interested in astrophysics around 8 or 9 years old. I grew up in a very rural area of Alabama, so the night sky was very bright. Most nights we could easily see the 'Arm' of the Milkway. I was first interested in understanding our place in the universe. Then I begin reading alot of science fiction books and became interested in time-travel and technology of the future. When I was older I spent time reading my older siblings' high school textbooks, encyclopedias, library books, etc. Still, I didn't think astronomy was a serious career choice. I thought it was something people did as a hobby. I didn't know or had even heard of anyway studying astronomy for a living or even thinking seriously about the physics of the universe. I always wondered why doesn't anyone want to know how the stars are made and how gravity works in space. It wasn't until high school that I read that astrophysics is a field of science that had been studied for hundreds of years. I remember reading about astrophysics in the very back of an old textbook while I was in Saturday school detention (for being late to school too many days). I asked my detention teacher if could keep the old textbook and he allowed me to take it home. It was my senior year in high school, during a physics class that I realized astrophysics was something that *I* could do. The first semester of physics was pretty boring and I didn't do very well. But the 2nd semester discussed gravity, theories of the formation of the moon, and different types of stars. It was the first time I willingly participated in class. My physics teacher wrote 'shows interest' on my progress report and that was the first time I realized that my teachers knew I existed. I was pretty quiet and shy. I also had older and younger siblings so I didn't think any of my teachers could distinguish me from either of them. So I remember feeling elated that someone else actually noticed my interests. So, then I decided to study physics in college. I was also considering becoming a writer, so I double-majored in Physics and English at Tuskegee University. My first year we had access to a computer lab and I spent way too much time reading about blackholes. At that time (1998) blackholes were still really controversial. I determined I wanted to study particle astrophysics at Princeton with Kip Thorne, I was very ambitious. Fast-forwarding 6 years, I transferred to Alabama A&M, dropped English and double majored in math and physics with a minor in Space Science. By the time I reached my senior year of undergraduate, I was ready to leave physics altogether and just getting a job in industry. But during my sophomore year, I had completed an REU at Lawerence Berkeley Lab with Hakeem Oluseyi. At the same time, I was planning on giving up on research, he became a professor at the University of Alabama in Huntsville. So, I applied to graduate school at A&M so that I could work with him as my research advisor. BUT, he wanted me to work on polar plumes in the solar corona. I didn't know much about that, but it was very interesting and so I started graduate school in solar physics research. He eventually transferred to another university, and a new professor at A&M, Amy Winebarger, became my primary advisor. I have been in solar physics ever since. There have been so many people that have gotten me here, but Hakeem and Amy are primarily responsible.