10 Things You Didn't Know About Ironheart
1. She Is A Certified Child Genius
By age five, Riri’s parents knew she was different. Her biological father and namesake had died and the family, which consisted of her mother, Ronnie, sister, Sharon, and her new stepfather, lived in the South Shore neighbourhood of Chicago, Illinois. Riri began exhibiting behaviour issues and her mother took her to a child psychologist. After testing, the doctor determined that the child was a super-genius.
Riri’s parents arranged to get special care for their daughter that would foster her new abilities and also give her the emotional support she needed to curb the burgeoning behaviour issues. Her intelligence caused her to become an introvert and her passion and fascination with technology caused her to spend much of her time alone and forgetting to even eat while building new machines.
At age ten, Natalie Washington wandered into Riri’s open garage and the two became fast friends. A year later, the M.I.T. gave her a full scholarship and Riri contacted NASA, hoping to apply to their astronaut training program. Sadly, her age and lack of a college degree disqualified her for now. Undeterred and inspired by her personal hero, Mae Jemison, NASA's first African American female astronaut, the young genius vowed to keep going.