The first seven years of Margaret Cooper's life were average. She was the younger of Michael and Amy Cooper's two children. Her brother, Harry, though four years her senior, kept an eye on his baby sister, and Maisie came to idolize him. She started school when old enough and made friends with the other kids in her class right away. Life for the young British child was all but perfect, but she doesn't remember much about her time in her native country.

Just shortly after her seventh birthday, her parents sat down with her and her brother to let them know that Michael had accepted another, better paying position. The only caveat was that the position was in a hospital on another continent. The entire family uprooted and moved across the Atlantic Ocean to Brooklyn, New York.

It was something of a shock for young Maisie. Gone were all the friends she made. She was a fish out of water, adapting to a new environment. The other children in her grade poked fun at her accent and how well-mannered she was. At first, it stung and often sent her home crying to her parents about how she missed her old school and old friends. As the time passed by, she grew accustomed to it and learned to stick up for herself. Once the others realized she was not going to sit and take it, the teasing became less frequent, though she found it difficult to make friends.

A few years later, by some stroke of luck, a new student arrived, one that spoke the same as her. The two eventually became friends because, as the then ten-year-old Maisie put it, We have to stick together. Having a friend made life much easier, and it showed in both her mood and her school performance. Like her brother, she found herself fascinated by the evolving technology that was the computer, and the two would stay up well after they should have been asleep playing with the desktop computer their father had purchased.

Maisie was certain that she wanted to continue to work with them when she grew older – largely because Harry expressed the same sentiments. If one thing had remained constant after the move to America, it was that she still idolized her brother and wanted to be just like him. That admiration didn't falter when Harry surprised the entire family and enlisted in the United States Navy when he turned eightteen. The move surprised his little sister most of all, who hadn't seen it coming.

For the longest time, she felt as if her brother had abanonded her, even though she knew that wasn't rational. A few years after he'd left, just before her sixteenth birthday, he came home on shore leave and explained his reasoning: that he wanted to see the world. She eventually came to understand and respect his decision, which was why a few years later, she followed in his footsteps.

What Maisie hadn't realized was that the military had a program that would help pay for her college if she enlisted and served a certain amount of time. After a few years of service, she began taking computer science classes at New York University and was eventually able to obtain her degree in a field predominantly occupied by men. Even while working overseas, most had laughed at the idea that a woman could succeed in the field, but Maisie had always been determined to prove anyone who doubted her wrong.

It was exactly what she set out to do. After finishing college, she began working at a private company. Though the role she accepted was that of a programmer, she found that she was a glorified secretary. Instead of doing what she had trained for years to do, she was planning meetings, getting coffee, and placing food orders. No amount of arguing that this was not what she was hired for could convince her superiors to change their attitude, so she completely crashed their network before walking out the door.

When her former employees called the police, they thought they would gain their revenge. Instead, she was approached by a recruiter for the FBI. It turned out they had caught wind of her work and were prepared to offer her a job in Boston if she could prove herself to them.

Maisie saw no other option other than saying yes, which was exactly what she did. Though the work is rigorous and often frustrating, it is also rewarding. The long hours prevent her from having much of a social life, but she knows how to make the most of her freetime.

Nine years later, she is still working within the same Boston field office of the FBI as a cryptanalyst. It is her job to percieve and stop cyber threats and track them to their source. At thirty-six, she has sacrificed the idea of marrying and having children for her career and has absolutely no regrets about it.