for much of her life, sonia manzano was part of sesame street as one of its writers and a character. >> cookies and cupcakes are good sometimes but i want everyone to realize treats like this can be tasty, too! oh, maria! >> oh, come on! this is very disappointing! oh, come on! >> brown: she was a beloved figure who taught the basics of reading and math -- >> o toothpaste! >> brown: but also complicated life lessons about love, marriage, sickness -- >> don't you remember we told you, mr. hooper died. he was sick. >> oh, yeah. >> brown: for many viewers, she was also the first latina they saw on television. television. how much of maria is you? >> she's a better, kinder sonia, she's a more patient sonia, but it's all -- i went exactly from myself. >> brown: and yet the safe, comforting world where maria lived and worked was very different from the one manzano grew up in, a story she's now telling in a new memoir, becoming marie yanchts when i started thinking about leaving sesame street, i started to think about my journey there and i wanted to examine where i went right and wrong and