 After a stint working for a prestigious Atlanta law firm and as deputy city attorney, Abrams won a statehouse legislative seat and dedicated herself to becoming a political force, not by back-slapping her way through the halls of Georgia's Gold Dome, but by focusing on changing her party's direction from the inside out. But if there was a defining story of her youthful foray into politics, it was the regrettable high school trip to the governor's mansion for a reception for valedictorians.