I remember my grandmother taking me to see On the Basis of Sex when I was 11. Leaving the movie, I told her, “Maybe I want to be a lawyer, too.” I hadn’t even thought of that before seeing the movie. Now I’m 14, but I still might be a lawyer one day.

Ruth Bader Ginsburg saw problems and she did her best to solve them. And she mostly did solve them. We were talking about her in History class the other day. She helped make it illegal to discriminate against a female employee just for being pregnant. I thought: You mean this hasn’t always been the law? That’s crazy. I know that’s coming from someone my age who didn’t know.

She made things possible for other women. She made things possible for me. By being successful, she made things possible for a lot of people.

She overcame so much to get to where she was and make the changes that she did. It’s because she was passionate. I think that’s my goal in life, too—to be happy in my career but also to have good come out of it, to be passionate.

When I heard she’d died, I thought: That’s a loss for women and girls everywhere. All the changes she helped make could be overturned. I get scared thinking about that.

If I could write her a note, I’d say: Thanks for everything you did. What are your tips for success? Who were your role models? Who motivated you? Because that’s what role models do; they open you up to possibilities. You don’t even imagine something for yourself...and then you see someone else do it. You get inspired.

And you think: Me, too.