>> When I graduated from high school, I actually went to a historically black college
and university in the south and I was an accounting major.
And I decided I didn't like accounting.
And I wanted to transfer closer to home, so I ended up here at Penn State.
And I was still an accounting major.
I couldn't figure out exactly what I wanted to do, but I had a friend who was majoring
in health care policy, and I wanted to keep all of my credits
that I had earned my freshman year, and applied them to whatever my major was,
and I went to the introductory health policy class,
and I loved the content, and I changed my major.
And the rest is sort of history.
After I graduated from Penn State, I worked for a number of health insurance plans,
and so I would learn more about various populations,
and so I ended up working for a Medicare plan.
And I was also at the same time doing my Master's of Business Administration,
and one of my classmates worked for CMS, and she was saying, "Oh,
you have a degree in health policy?"
You know. "And you're getting your MBA?
Oh, you should definitely look into CMS.
And because that is something you can use both of your degrees,
and you probably would be really interested in."
And I applied, and I was accepted, because I came from a managed care organization.
And I've been there ever since.