Shannon O'Brien

Shannon O'Brien was born in western Massachusetts. She went to a Catholic school from kindergarten to sixth grade. In the fourth grade Shannon O'Brien was helping her father with a political campaign. Her teacher recognized her hard work and told her that she was going to be the first female governor of Massachusetts. Thinking that her teacher was crazy, she went on with her life. She went to a public high school for seventh and eighth grades and finished high school at a private school in Boston.

After high school, Ms. O'Brien continued her education at Yale University. There, she earned her Bachelor of Arts degree. Her extracurricular activities were rugby and she was the captain of the soccer team. But O'Brien still wasn't finished there. She attended law school at Boston University and got a JD (law degree). Afterwards, she worked in a public defenders program. However, after going to law school she felt like being a lawyer was not what she wanted to do.

Shannon O'Brien says that her father and grandfather influenced her to get involved with politics, a male dominated field. During her political career, she was a state representative and a state senator for Massachusetts. She was the first woman to obtain the position of state treasurer in Massachusetts. She is most famous for running for Governor of Massachusetts in 2002 against Mitt Romney. Although she was not elected, she came extremely close. Raising $8 million for her campaign she raised more money than any other democratic candidate. She has clearly influenced many females of all ages by her determination and skills. She stresses being a leader, saying, "There are lots of different ways to be a leader. You don't have to run for office to be a leader. You can be a leader if you just get your friends together to maybe volunteer at a nursing home with there are people who are sick and can't get up and bring them a little bit of friendship."

Shannon O'Brien is not out of the public eye as yet. She is currently on WB56 as a television enterprise reporter. She was asked to work for them because "They thought that I was a strong advocate and they knew I was excited about helping people and changing laws." Ms. O'Brien continues to inspire and motivate women towards financial freedom, she stresses that everyone, especially women, need to have a good financial idea of how to save for the future.

Our time with Shannon O'Brien felt less like an interview and more like a conversation with an old friend. She was not talking to us, she was talking with us. We all felt a personal connection with Ms. O'Brien. From the moment we met her, it was clear what a warm, loving person she is. She was direct when she spoke, but still always took time to listen to what we had to say. And she left us all with an inspiring message: Life may not be easy, but we all have the determination to get us through.