Angela Duckworth, former high school math teacher and current CEO of Character Lab, developed the concept of “grit” as an indicator of student success. Photo credit: John D. & Catherine T. MacArthur Foundation

There are many examples of individuals successful in the world of business who leave lucrative positions to teach in America’s high schools. One of these is Angela Duckworth, a psychologist, social scientist, author, CEO of a nonprofit,  who also taught mathematics in a San Francisco public school.

Angela was born in 1970, the daughter of immigrants from China. Her father was a chemist with the DuPont Chemicals Company. Angela was raised in New Jersey and graduated from Cherry Hill High School East. After her graduation from high school, Angela attended Harvard University, where she earned her Bachelor’s degree in Neurobiology in 1992. She earned her Master’s degree in Neuroscience from the University of Oxford in 1996. She completed the requirements for her PhD in Psychology from the University of Pennsylvania in 2006. In 2013, Angela garnered a MacArthur Fellowship.

Originally, Angela accepted a position as a management consultant with McKinsey & Company, but she left that job after about one year in order to accept a teaching post at Lowell High School in San Francisco. Lowell is the only public high school in San Francisco that admits students on the basis of academic merit. The school is the largest feeder to the University of California system, and many of the school’s graduates go on to enroll in the country’s most selective universities. She also taught at schools in Philadelphia and New York City. In all, her career as an educator spanned five years.

Angela left the classroom to become the founder and CEO of Character Lab, a nonprofit organization that studies the importance of what she called “grit”—the quality that contributes to an individual’s success in life. Angela defines “grit” as passion and perseverance in the pursuit of long-term goals. As a result of the studies, Angela published a best-selling book entitled Grit: The Power of Passion and Perseverance in May, 2016. In fact, she is credited with introducing the concept of “grit” to the conversation of education policy.

Today, Angela continues to run Character Lab, and she also instructs courses in psychology at the University of Pennsylvania.