Tina Fey was born in a Philadelphia suburb when her mother was 40. One of the first memories she shares is of a little boy tearing up a picture she’d drawn, giving her a taste of “the real world” (10). When she’s in kindergarten, a man slashes her face in an alley behind her house; in the years to come, people comment on it in various ways, even writing insultingly of it online.

Early experiences show Fey that women’s bodies are objectified and held to impossible standards of beauty. They also show her that she herself falls short of meeting these standards. While conventionally beautiful girls are thin and blond, Fey is curvier, has brown hair, and possesses a more eccentric sense of style. As a teenager, she spends her summers at a theater camp called Summer Showtime, a safe haven for gay teens, who become Fey’s closest friends. Once in college, Fey continues to struggle to fit in, and she often misinterprets signals from her crushes, thinking their relationship is more romantic than it actually is.

Fey moves to Chicago to take improv classes and works at the YMCA during the day. She eventually leaves her job at the YMCA to work at The Second City, an improv company that becomes the most fun job of her life.