Chiara Cordelli is an Associate Professor of Political Science at the University of Chicago. Coming from Italy, she brings her creativity to her research work on social and political philosophy, with a particular focus on theories of distributive justice, political legitimacy, normative defenses of the state, and the public/private distinction in liberal theory. In this episode, she talks about why she chose to be an academic and the ups and downs in this journey to becoming a professor at the University of Chicago.