Marian Mulkey is director of the California HealthCare Foundation’s Health Reform and Public Programs Initiative, which is working to support the implementation of national health reform in California and advance the effectiveness of public coverage programs. Before chatting about health reform’s implications for California, she took our Green Room Q&A.

Q. Where would we find you at 10 a.m. on a typical Saturday?

A. At the grocery store, stocking up for the week.

Q. What do you wish you had the nerve to do?

A. Travel extensively and leave work behind a little more often.

Q. What music have you listened to today?

A. Some hip hop in the cab on the way over.

Q. When do you feel most creative?

A. Early in the morning.

Q. What is your favorite word?

A. Depends on the occasion.

Q. Who is your favorite fictional character?

A. I just reread To Kill a Mockingbird because my son’s reading it, and I have to say, Scout is a winner.

Q. When you were a child, what did you want to be when you grew up?

A. I was never clear. I wanted to be lots of different things.

Q. What profession would you like to practice in your next life?

A. I’m enjoying this life pretty well.

Q. What is the best advice you have ever received?

A. Find something you really like to do and do it as well as you can.

Q. If you could take only one more journey, where would you go?

A. The South Pacific.

To read more about Mulkey’s panel, click here.

*Photo by Aaron Salcido.