Piper Kerman was born in Boston on September 28, 1969 and graduated from Smith College in 1992. Despite the advantages of her education and successful family background, she became involved in money laundering and drug trafficking, and would eventually serve 13 months of a 15-month sentence in the Federal Correctional Institution in Danbury, Connecticut. Kerman's memoir about her time in prison, entitled Orange is the New Black: My Year in a Woman's Prison, was published in 2010. The book was adapted by Jenji Kohan into an Emmy and Peabody award-winning series on Netflix. She currently serves on the board of the Women's Prison Association and is a vocal advocate for Justice Reform.