Meredith Walker has deep roots in Texas, but her career and life passions have taken her all over the world. It’s an unscripted pathway that she wants to encourage other young women to consider. “If you think you’re allowed to try a lot of things, then you’ll try a lot of things. But if you feel like this is what’s acceptable, you’ll kind of stay there.”

Walker got her feet wet working with acclaimed journalist Linda Ellerbee and Nick News. Rising from intern to producer at warp speed, she traveled the U.S. interviewing children for the Peabody and Emmy award-winning series. When an opportunity to join Saturday Night Live presented itself, she jumped on it. Head of Talent for SNL was an exhilarating experience and also where Meredith Walker met actress, best friend, and long time collaborator Amy Poehler. Through their shared experiences, the pair recognized a gap in content for young girls.

I would, for no amount of money, go back to eighth grade. It’s a challenging time for girls, but having a community where you can hear or tell your stories makes a difference—So we started Amy Poehler’s Smart Girls.

What started as an online “clubhouse” primarily for girls has evolved to become an inclusive, positive online community for anyone who identifies with its mission of positive self-identification and advocacy. Walker travels to promote that mission for Smart Girls and beyond. She served as the journalism envoy for the U.S. State Department Bureau of Culture and Education’s mission to the Al Za’atari and Emirates Refugee Camps and visited remote primary-care clinics on delegations to Haiti and Malawi.

Her new interview series, Life Unscripted with Meredith Walker on Nelda TV builds upon the same premise of filling a gap in important content by telling the stories of interesting and dynamic women. Says Walker, “They’ve reached a place where they’re not letting society define who they are or what success means for them.”

Living “unscripted” is a maxim Meredith Walker has embraced herself. “It’s been an interesting and winding journey. I had a sense of the kind of person I wanted to be in the world. I had no idea how I would get there. I’m just so glad I made it.”

Her advice—“The way that you ‘unscript’ your life is, first of all, understanding the difference between what others’ expectations are and what you really want.”