My path to AI was far from a traditional one. My first career was in the arts, as a professional ballerina. At sixteen I graduated summa cum laude a year early from high school and moved across the country alone to dance with the Atlanta Ballet. On breaks from rehearsal I would attend free seminars at Georgia Tech on subjects ranging from astrophysics to neuroscience. I found the research fascinating, and was especially inspired by the humanitarian and environmental impact of technology. I developed a thirst for making a tangible difference in the world and promised myself that after my dance career I would return to school and obtain the necessary knowledge and skills to improve lives. The discipline I gained as a ballerina led me through two bachelor of science degrees in EE and Math and on to pursue a PhD in the Computational Vision Lab at Caltech, funded by an NSF Graduate Research Fellowship. I am devoted to learning as much as I can about AI and eager to find new ways to use it to understand and improve the health of our planet.