I'm so excited for you to meet my next guest, Ruth Simmons. She's an American professor and the former president of Smith College, Brown University, and Prairie View, A&M, Texas's oldest historically black college.

As a daughter of sharecroppers, Simmons prioritized education and learning and made it a

mission to give back to others who came from similar upbringings. Today, she's inspiring generations

with her memoir, Up Home, One Girl's Journey,

where she shares her story of overcoming poverty and becoming an academic and literary success.

We recently caught up for an exclusive interview.

She opens up about navigating the segregated South as a black woman

and how she handled the pressures of being a leader

at some of the most prestigious universities in the country.

I'm Jenna Bush-Hager.

Welcome to another episode of your life now.

Oh, my.

You know, I've been a lifelong educator,

and I have cared most in my profession about my students.

And they always ask me about my past, what they know of it,

and why I turned out the way I did, because to them,

it's kind of irreconcilable, the beginnings that I had and what I've done in my life.

And I tired of answering the question of how I got to be who I am, and I thought, well, the most efficient thing to do is to write about it.

And that way, I won't have to answer the questions anymore.

I still get the question.

Yeah, I was going to say, I'm going to ask you the questions.

I still get the questions.

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