I don't think there's a problem with being a teen idol, if that happens to me, I'll be happy to deal with it.
How the original 'Cosmos' affected me personally was long-term. I wasn't born early enough to see the original series, but after getting a hold of it in my teen years, it was one of the driving forces behind my passion for science.
I instinctively dress a bit tougher because I've spent a lot of time in the U.S. and I realised there was a certain image projected of me here. I've always been an absolute rebel. When I was in my teen years I had piercings and wore all black.
As every teenage girl, I was absolutely obsessed with The Beatles, and the first record I bought was 'Please Please Me.' I'd have been 13 at the time.
It's never that hard for me to imagine what it must feel like to be someone else, whether it's an American teenage girl or a Japanese octogenarian man.
The movies I used to watch, I remember always being so angry because I felt like I, as a teenage girl, was never truly represented in a film. There were always bits of me that were represented - I'd watch 'Juno' and be like, 'Oh, well part of me is like that, but it's still not the whole thing.'
Although my mother didn't necessarily approve of teenage girls wearing heels, she made an exception for me when I was 14 because she didn't want me to be self-conscious about my height - or to slouch.
Everyone just talks about the problems our teenage girls are facing and what they're dealing with. But there was, to me, a void in how they were being served or helped. I thought, 'Wow, I'd love to create something.'
I never had teenage years. I guess because I was seen to be more adult than anybody around me.
My mum is very driven and has always kept me busy... She used to say to me, 'Nobody likes a teenager. So use your teenage years to work. Then enjoy your life when you're slightly older.'
When I was a teenager, I began to settle into school because I'd discovered the extracurricular activities that interested me: music and theater.
I was forced to be political because I had bombs falling on me as a child in Tehran.
One of my bosses happened to be one of the early architects of some of the ways Internet providers work. He taught me how the cables connect, how the telecom providers work... I learned how to make my own Ethernet cables, all the way up to running a small business.
I can get my voicemail transcribed and sent to me as e-mail. I want to be able to have my address book and all my life come up on my TV and video chat. The whole telecommunications experience through a wire is still very relevant.
I live in solitude. I have need of solitude to do the next day's work. I can't be to parties where the noise tires me. I can't speak on the telephone. I must have complete calm.
Once I was standing in line to buy a telephone and Senator Wirth was in line with me. The next day the New York Times reported that we'd both purchased telephones and what price we'd paid!
Someone had asked me who I thought was better, John Cena or Rock. I said Rock needs a teleprompter. Rock needs a writer to write all his stuff.
Let me clarify a few things about TV news on the national level at NBC and MSNBC. We write our own stories. There is no teleprompter for reporters. No traveling makeup artists or stylists. And there is very little sleep.
While the revolution will be certainly televised, it strikes me that there is a strong possibility that the revolution will also be crowd-funded.
I was part of the first ever women's match to ever be televised in China. That's something no one can take away from me.
