Keala Settle

There were pockets of this career - whatever you want to call it - where I said, 'I've tapped out. I don't want to do this. I'm gonna go be a stage hand. I don't want to do this. I don't want to talk to people. I'm afraid of people. I'm going to walk away from everything that this was and is.'

What is so beautiful about a composer and a lyricist is that their job is to push a story along and not halt it.

My goal is to stay in good health, and every day, I wake up and pray that I do.

I was causing trouble in high school, and in order to get me to stop and to pass, they put me into theater, and I ended up winning a Shakespeare competition. All I had to do was imitate people properly, and I ended up going to the finals when I was about 16.

I used to be a pop singer; well, not used to be. I am an R&B singer. My emphasis was on Stevie Wonder and Chaka Khan and Aretha Franklin.

I wake up in the morning, and I look in a mirror, and I go, 'Is this really all I got? Is this all the universe has given me?'

It doesn't matter if you're a Victoria's Secret model or you're someone's 90-year-old grandma or you're a little kid who's getting bullied or you're that kid's bully - everybody feels like there's something going on that's more correct than what is. We all have to reach out to one another in that fear, and we'd be surprised to hear, 'Me, too.'

Broadway is really, really hard.

My mother taught us all to bake. It literally calmed us down, and she was able to get rid of all her frustrations.

No one was created to be alone.

I used to not walk out the door; I was so afraid. Everything from, 'You shouldn't be here,' down to, 'Girl, don't wear those pants.' I was so sad. I tried my best to not even look in a mirror!

I've always been afraid of who I am and not knowing what I can do.