Chelsea Clinton’s NBC News Debut: My Grandma Cajoled Me Into New Job (Video)

The former first daughter unspooled her first report, on an Arkansas charity, on Monday's "Rock Center with Brian Williams"

Why did Chelsea Clinton, the former first daughter, decide to take a high-profile media job after years of avoiding the public eye?

Because of her grandmother, as she explained to Brian Williams after her debut as a special correspondent on "Rock Center with Brian Williams" Monday.

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"For most of my life, I did deliberately lead a private life, and inadvertently led a public life," Clinton told Williams. "I've always been incredibly proud of both of my parents, and proud of the work I had done privately, as a person, and professionally and academically.

Her late grandmother, Dorothy Rodham, changed her approach to dealing with the spotlight, she said.

"My grandmother, who passed away at the beginning of November, had a core adage in her life, that life is not about what happens to you, but about what you do with what happens to you. And she recently had been cajoling me and challenging me to do more with my life, to lead more of a purposefully public life … that being Chelsea Clinton had happened to me, and that I had a responsibility to do something with that asset and opportunity."

Read more: Chelsea Clinton Debuts on NBC’s ‘Rock Center’

Check out a video clip from Clinton's "Making a Difference" report on an Arkansas woman who runs a non-profit organization that many local residents credit with helping to keep them fed, clothed, educated, out of jail and, in some cases, still alive:

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