I just get pissed off at that old school mentality that says, 'Well, somebody's got a white mother or a white father and they ain't black enough,' or, 'They went to Harvard, so they can't be really down.' When we gonna get past that? It's old thinking to assume that what's good for African-Americans is the opposite of what's good for white folks. Why do we have to have that zero sum mentality at this point? Why can't we all get better healthcare and better education? I'm an optimist. And so when I get angry, it's easy for me to channel it into just doing more and doing it harder and trying to do it better. 
-- Susan Rice
Dr. Susan Rice was raised in Washington D.C. and growing up in the world of politics helped shape her life. Her father was a governor of the Federal Reserve and her mother is an education policy scholar. Rice got her first taste of power as the student council president at the National Cathedral School for Girls, where she was also valedictorian.
Rice graduated from Stanford University with a degree in History in 1986. As a Rhodes Scholar she earned her Master of Philosophy and Doctor of Philosophy from New College in Oxford. Her dissertation was honored as the United Kingdom's most distinguished dissertation in International Relations by the Chatham House-British International Studies Association.
After beginning her career as a management consultant at McKinsey & Company, she worked for the National Security Council from 1993-1997. For two years she was the Director for International Organizations and Peacekeeping, and then she was named the Special Assistant to the President and Senior Director for African Affairs. For the next four years she served as the Assistant Secretary of State for African Affairs.
In 2001, Rice went to work for the Brookings Institution, one of the oldest think tanks in America. She is on leave from her position there while she serves as foreign policy adviser to presidential candidate Barack Obama.
Rice graduated from Stanford University with a degree in History in 1986. As a Rhodes Scholar she earned her Master of Philosophy and Doctor of Philosophy from New College in Oxford. Her dissertation was honored as the United Kingdom's most distinguished dissertation in International Relations by the Chatham House-British International Studies Association.
After beginning her career as a management consultant at McKinsey & Company, she worked for the National Security Council from 1993-1997. For two years she was the Director for International Organizations and Peacekeeping, and then she was named the Special Assistant to the President and Senior Director for African Affairs. For the next four years she served as the Assistant Secretary of State for African Affairs.
In 2001, Rice went to work for the Brookings Institution, one of the oldest think tanks in America. She is on leave from her position there while she serves as foreign policy adviser to presidential candidate Barack Obama.
