eBay CEO Meg Whitman, who rarely grants interviews aside from those with Wall Street reporters, made a guest appearance on eBay Radio on Tuesday. The host of the show, Jim "Griff" Griffith, is eBay's Dean of Education and was eBay's first customer service representative. Griff asked Whitman questions about her career, inspiration, and life before eBay.

There were no surprises in the interview - Whitman has been profiled in many articles and several books. She said her parents were a profound influence and supported her decision during college to go to business school instead of becoming a doctor. Her most exciting time at eBay was participating in the first eBay Live community conference in Anaheim 5 years ago, and her most challenging time at eBay was during the major site outage in June of 1999.

She and her family - her husband, a doctor, and two boys - enjoy the mountains of Colorado and hiking in the trails near her home in California.

Whitman said she buys and sells on eBay. Her most recent purchase was a video camera for use with Skype (a service she liked so much that eBay acquired the company last year). And she and her teenage sons sell used sporting goods on eBay. Her advice for listeners: find a business you care a lot about and you find interesting. "We all do better when we're passionate." The interview can be heard on eBay Radio on WSradio.com.

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