Reporter's Note: My Reflections on Myanmar’s Leader

It was in September 2013 when I first met Aung San Suu Kyi at a summit in Singapore. Wearing traditional ethnic attire in violet and red blossoms in her hair, the Myanmar leader and Nobel Peace Prize Laureate delivered a speech about her country’s transition, for which she received a warm round of applause. With a serious and slightly grim expression, the iconic smile was absent on her face — at least in my eyes.