Goapele

In high school, I started training, singing with choirs, and getting voice lessons and doing a lot of creative writing and decided that that's really what I wanted to pursue as a career, and that's what I was going to study.

I'm looking to immerse myself more in the entertainment community and possibly get into doing some acting. Music is my first love, what I was most naturally drawn to and choose to study. Getting into the acting world is like a new exciting challenge.

I care about a lot of social issues, and I care about fashion.

Mos is a true artist who has a story to tell and gives back through his music. He remixed my song 'Different' in 2005, and the song we're working on now will be one of my future projects.

There were a lot of anti-apartheid rallies and marches and concerts that we would go to as a family. And music was a big part of that. It was never just the politics.

I think police brutality has been going on since - I don't know - ever since I can remember and, you know, hearing about it in my childhood.

I didn't want to be taken advantage of and burnt out in the industry. I worked with my family really closely, so I was able to get that respect in the industry. So now I feel that I can let my guard down. People know who I am; I can be myself. I can be more versatile, and I can wear what I want.

I have a lot of family in South Africa, but I grew up in California. I feel like my name keeps me connected to a long line of people that have been through a heck of a lot. It reminds me to stay grateful, and it reminds me to try and step my game up if I'm slacking.

It's always liberating to feel like I'm changing my hair and know that my fans are supporting that. I like to feel like I'm really expressing myself, and when people embrace it, it feels like an authentic connection.

There are some parents who always have their daughter's hair whipped. Mine wasn't always like that, but I appreciate that both my parents were into me having natural hair, so they did find Anota Scott, who I was going to for my cornrows and wrapping last year and a couple years before that.

I wanted it to be back to a state where it felt like it was thriving, so I think that my hair's happiest natural, and there's that hairstyle for everyone where you feel like, 'My hair is agreeing with this,' so I just cut it off recently again, and I'm going back natural.

I feel happy with myself when I go to the steam room and steam my face. But truth be told, my ultimate beauty indulgence is lip balm - I can't go an hour without lip balm.