Chiniqua Bright, age 30, pours a cocktail at Red Robin in Mesa, Arizona on Sept. 29, 2018. Bright has been working at this restaurant for close to 11 years, while also juggling teaching and coaching responsibilities for the last seven.

Chiniqua Bright jokes with a customer while waiting tables at Red Robin on Sept. 29, 2018. Beginning as a server at the restaurant, Bright quickly advanced to bartender and lead trainer.

Chiniqua Bright directs students during an afternoon gym class on Oct. 3, 2018. In addition to teaching general physical education classes at Skyline High School, Bright also coaches the girls’ varsity basketball team.

Chiniqua Bright looks on as her students, all members of Skyline’s female varsity basketball team, participate in a relay push-up exercise on Oct. 3, 2018. Skyline is a Title 1 high school, meaning at least 40 percent of the student body comes from a low-income family.

Chiniqua Bright laughs as her students help each other perform sit-ups on Oct. 3, 2018. Bright and her students were warming up for the 2018 basketball season to begin.

Chiniqua Bright has drinks with friends at The Hub Grill and Bar in Mesa on Oct. 25, 2018. Bright and her friends met at Skyline, where all three of them were coaches at one point. They all say they found their female friendship to be a comfort in an environment usually dominated by male coaches.

Chiniqua Bright laughs with a customer at Red Robin on Sept. 29, 2018. Bright had just realized the customer also used to teach gym in the area.

Chiniqua Bright shares a laugh with two regular customers at the bar on Sept. 29, 2018. Although her schedule fluctuates during basketball season, she regularly picks up shifts, and her manager said he trusts her with the keys to the restaurant.

Chiniqua Bright prepares her lunch early in the morning on Nov. 15, 2018. She wakes up at 5 a.m. each day to get ready for work, often after nights of staying late at school for coaching or catching up on grading.

Chiniqua Bright cooks breakfast early in the morning on Nov. 15, 2018.  She needs to be at school by 7:30 a.m., and likes to leave herself enough time to have a full breakfast to prepare for her busy, active day.

Chiniqua Bright adds items to her calendar early in the morning on Nov. 15, 2018. She said the calendar helps keep all of her obligations straight. In addition to coaching practices and attending games, she frequently attends Individualized Education Plan meetings with special needs students and their parents.

Chiniqua Bright looks on as her students participate in a relay race on Oct. 3, 2018. She said the lack of racial and gender diversity in gym teachers was one reason she pursued a career in the field. “I wondered, ‘where are all the girls?’” she recalled when thinking about her own high school gym teachers. “So I was like, hey, you know what, I’m going to be the teacher now.”

Chiniqua Bright cheers on her varsity basketball students during a relay warm-up on Oct. 3, 2018. It was too sweltering hot to go outside and run that day, but Bright insisted her students run anyway.