Tiara Rubio, 34

Tiara Rubio didn’t get the best grades in school — she says she has never been a good test taker — but she was so smart she would tutor other students to help them with their homework and exam preparation. She says her best subject was math and describes herself as a “protector of the nerds,” even though she, herself, wasn’t a nerd.

“I was always very protective, so I thought I would wind up doing something where I would help people,” she says.

As a teenager, Rubio envisioned herself becoming a psychologist, but as she learned more about the profession, she realized it wasn’t for her. “I needed something a little more active, a little more involved,” she says.