At four years old, I taught myself to read. By the time I went to kindergarten, I was devouring chapter books I swiped from my nine-year-old sister's bookshelf, and my love and appreciation for literature only grew from there. Although my academic pursuits centered around zoology and other biological sciences, language arts continued to hold a special place in my heart.

As a frequent flyer in my schools' libraries and a huge supporter of free community access to books, literary censorship has always been a cause close to my heart. So when the opportunity to start a subscription company presented itself, I invited my best friend and fellow bookworm, Emily, to help me build The Restricted Section, a monthly box centered around banned books and the freedom to read. We cannot wait to see what kind of discussion our selections spark among our readers, and how our global book club will connect reading rebels around the world.

In my other life, I'm an avid picture taker and professional birth photographer, as well as an artist and osteologist working for a local fine curiosity shop in Kansas City's beautiful and eclectic Crossroads Art District. I also work PRN as a surgical and emergency nurse for a local 24-hour veterinary hospital, and along with all of that I'm a mom to a smart, hilarious, and precocious little boy whose love of literature is something I'm eager to nurture, even if that sometimes means reading The Very Hungry Caterpillar nine times in one day.