Terry Gross, the legendary host of NPR's 'Fresh Air' — one of the most acclaimed interview programs in American broadcasting — delivered the commencement address at Bryn Mawr College in May 2014. After decades of interviewing thousands of accomplished people about their lives and careers, Gross had developed a keen eye for the patterns that shape a life. This observation came from both her professional experience as an interviewer and her own personal journey. She noted that while her guests are typically on Fresh Air because of their successes, she often finds the most revealing moments come when discussing their frustrations and outright failures. The line was a setup for her own story of spectacular early failure — being fired after just six weeks as an eighth-grade English teacher, a humiliation that turned out to be the biggest break she ever had, as it pushed her into public radio.