ambitious, hotheaded at times, and insecure but tries to hide it. she is the daughter of a politician and an actress and grew up in los angeles, surrounded by a lot of privilege but was taught to respect that and not rely on her last name or connections to get places. she lost her mother when she was about 6 years old and when her father was busy working (he was a congressman) she was raised by a loving nanny who was a stickler for rules and also manners. being the second oldest and also having parents who were well known made her want to work hard and establish herself and she eventually became a journalist. she currently works as a news correspondent for nbc and is hoping to get a promotion to the anchor desk. she is a divorcee, has a 6 year old daughter, and has a lot of anger and hurt from the marriage. it''s made the on/off thing with james difficult because they both have a lot of baggage and every time they start to get serious he bails.