plus, comedian margaret cho. margaret: i told my mother when i was 14 i wanted to be a comedian and she said, "oh, maybe it's better if you just die." >> this trailblazing standup comic gets candid about finding her voice and winning over some tough critics -- including her parents. and the composer of "the suffrage cantata." andrea: over 500 women would be arrested on ludicrous charges. >> hear her classical take on the history of women's rights. soledad: i'm soledad o'brien. welcome to the "matter of fact" listening tour. not every trouble maker or trailblazer is a household name. in fact, many of the people you'll meet in this show are working in communities where big dreams are hard to come by. this is a computer scenist and a.i. researcher who dreams of transforming her hometown of jackson, mississippi, into a tech hub. here's "matter of fact"correspondent jessica gomez. >> whenever i come in town it just reminds me of my upbringing. growing up in a household full of women -- this is where it all started. jes

margaret cho: hey! let's really celebrate alternative asian americans.

. >> stephen: you are the second asian woman to have a hbo comedy show after margaret cho. . >> so we were in church-- . >> stephen: you and margaret were in church. >> kind of, her dvd was at church. it was during a sermon and one of my church mates, churchees. >> stephen: church goers. >> plie fellow church go goers whispered at me, hey, and passed me the dvd like it was some contra band. and i took it home. i had never seen stand up comedy before. >> stephen: of any kind. >> of any kind. i was pretty new to the stage and it was so cool seeing someone that looks like me doing, just standing there for an hour. i didn't know this was a job, that you could just talk funny for an hour. and so that really was like, it hit me hard and it also, i think you know, it started making me think this is how my pastor is-- you know, kind of a dry speaker. and it really like put the-- standards were high after watching someone talk funny for an hour. >> stephen: yeah. i have some bible friendly jokes. >> stephen: do you mind sharing one. >> sure, yeah so my brother-in-law just bought a ge