Daughter of a truck driver and a mill worker, Monica Lopossay grew up in rural North Carolina. At 16, she raised enough money to buy her first camera by dressing in a 20-pound chicken suit and dancing on the side of a highway. She was the first person in her family to attend college, working her way through as a grill cook, a tutor at a Buddhist temple and a car mechanic. She earned a Bachelor of Arts degree in international studies and cultural anthropology from Guilford College in Greensboro, N.C., and an associate's degree in photojournalism from Randolph Community College. In her last eight years working for The Baltimore Sun, she covered a wide range of events, including two trips to Iraq and one to Haiti. She was honored in 2008 with her third Pulitzer nomination for spot news, as well as awards from the White House News Photographers Association and National Press Photographers Association, Best of Photojournalism. She is currently teaching photojournalism part time at Towson University and also works for ASTT, a nonprofit organization dedicated to serving the needs of refugees who are victims of torture and trauma. Other than seeking full-time employment, she takes care of her two tail-less feral cats, Mokey and Wembley, in Hampden.

She contributed a sampling of stories from thousands of amazing moments in the life of a photographer.