Sotomayor was born in New York City to parents who were from Puerto Rico. As a child, she was interested in reading the Nancy Drew series and other detective stories. She had a rough childhood since her alcoholic father died when she was nine. Throughout her time in high school and at Princeton, Sotomayor was a charismatic and inspirational leader. She graduated Princeton with a history degree, went to Yale University to study law and then served as a U.S District Court judge and judge for U.S Court of Appeals for the Second Circuit.