VERSAILLES, Ky. -- A high school social studies teacher in Woodford County is receiving some national attention, as part of a series in TIME magazine, on what it's like to be a teacher in the United States.

• Hope Brown is in her 2nd year as social studies teacher at Woodford County High. Has been teaching for a total of 17 years
• In addition to full-time teaching, Brown sells plasma and works multiple seasonal part-time jobs to supplement her income
• TIME Magazine featured Brown on cover of the September 24 edition of the magazine. Read the full article here

The household phrase…'That’s what she said'…has taken on a whole new, personal meaning for Hope Brown.

“I teach a civics class and I’ve always been interested in politics and believing in people should use their voice, for me it’s been kind of amazing that so many students have come to me saying you’re living what you teach about being civically engaged and speaking out and that’s what you’re doing, so that makes me very happy,” says Brown.

Hope Brown received an unplanned thrust into the national spotlight, when she was recently featured on the front cover of Time magazine, when it profiled what it means to be a teacher in the United States.

“It just floored me, like it absolutely floored me, I had no idea and then I was laughing and telling my daugthers and my daughter was like, what’s time magazine and she had no idea what it was,” added Brown. “As the whole issue with pensions, and the teacher protests kind of unfolded last year, um ya know, I couldn’t sleep at night, I was worried sick because one of the things for us is we accept a lower pay for the idea that we’re going to have a pretty decent pension when we retire and I was just really upset about that.”

Brown says her new national profile all started as a result of a post she made on social media, responding to fellow teachers sharing that they work several part-time jobs in order to make ends meet.

“I’ve been following a lot of teacher websites or on facebook and stuff like that, one teacher made a post on there that about what’s all of our side hustles and like who all has side hustles and what are they and all of these people were posting, ya know what there side hustles were and the more I thought about that, the more I thought, I just don’t like that word, like I don’t like the term side hustle because it sounds like it’s fun, like we’re doing it for a discount at wal-mart, we’re doing for ya know, whatever and it’s really hid wage stagnation, income and equality,” explains Brown.

Hope teaches her high school students full-time, monday thru friday…and…she says she also sells her own plasma and works seasonal jobs throughout the year to suppliment her income, but she’s not embarrassed….even with the extra attention she’s received due to the time magazine cover.

"Some people think that maybe I’m just not managing my money correctly or somebody said that I’m spending it at the bingo hall, but um, ya know, when you have so much student loan debt, which so many people do, there are so many people who struggle with student loan debt, tuition prices have gone up, there are so many of us that have medical bills that we’re struggling with like most people, ya know, medical expenses are just through the roof," mentions Brown.