One of the architects of America’s current monetary policy started small. Esther George, then a teenager, stuffed canceled checks into customers’ monthly statements in her first summer job at a local bank. She worked her way up to teller.

Today, she’s president and CEO of the Federal Reserve Bank of Kansas City and helps steer interest rates and other monetary policy as a member of the Federal Open Market Committee.

George sits down with Library Director Crosby Kemper III for a public conversation ranging from her small-town roots (in Faucett, Missouri, some 20 minutes south of St. Joseph) to her take on the country’s and Kansas City’s economy, her reputation as one of the FOMC’s most hawkish members, and her outlook on the U.S. economy.