I do wear a lot of hats, and sometimes people get confused with all that I do, but one thing that I am extraordinarily passionate about is furthering women's rights. I think it's something that's incredibly important, not just for girls everywhere but also boys to get involved in.

Like probably a lot of people, I came away from watching films like 'Miss Representation' and 'Half the Sky' with the realization that the battle for women's rights is not over, especially not globally, and that the moral imperative of our century is to achieve full rights for everyone regardless of gender.

Hoping to instill my love of learning in other children, I taught my first class at a local elementary school the year my first book, 'Flying Fingers,' debuted; since then, I have spoken at hundreds of schools, classrooms and conferences around the world.

It seems we're not only uninformed about our present, we're ignorant of our past.

It's always been a battle for me between personal goals and wanting to be able to share the success I've had with my family. And I guess as I've gotten older, I've kind of realized, you know, you can do all these cool things, but if you don't have people in your life to share it with, what's the point?

Glee' is very easy to clown because I feel like it's just crumbling. 'Smash!' 'Smash' is the ultimate. I love it because I'm all about theater. I did plays in high school and college, and it totally brings me back to that feeling: how excited you get on opening night, how it sucks when you're not learning the dance moves.

We had great faith that with patience, understanding, and education, that my family and I could be helpful in changing their minds and attitudes around.

Writing is such a 'pretend' profession. Nobody is counting on you at all. You can't 'pretend' to be a lawyer or a teacher. It takes a lot of grit to continue.