DENVER -- Maya Soetoro-Ng helped kick off the Democratic National Convention Monday in Denver by sharing her story of growing up in Hawaii with big brother Barack Obama.

Soetoro-Ng is a U.S. history teacher at La Pietra Hawaii School for Girls in Honolulu.

She told convention delegates that her family did not have much in the way of wealth, but they had something more important.

Soetoro-Ng said they had people who made them believe that with a little imagination, they could dream the improbable, and that through hard work, they could accomplish the extraordinary.

Soetoro-Ng singled out their late mother, saying she encouraged her and the presumptive Democratic presidential nominee to explore and ask questions and delight in unexpected discoveries and surprising answers.