In Greenville, we were blessed to have lots of youth arts programs. I changed middle schools to go to an arts middle school. Then, when high school came, I went to normal high school for a little while before auditioning for the Governor's School for Arts and Humanities.

Don't compare your career to anyone else's. It's tough when you're in a business that's competitive. I was having a difficult time with that in college. Now, I'm having to learn to be patient and be where I am.

The sassy black woman who can land a good joke was sort of my go-to audition. Or playing a struggling mother.

Clothing is so much a part of who we are; that's our way of expressing ourselves.

I think of the Tamil poet Subrahmanya Bharati every day, and he is an inspiration in my musical creations.

You learn to rise above a lot of bad things that happen in your life. And you have to keep going.

I feel I've been blessed with a gift of creativity and composition. That's why I've been able to keep going.

The 'sent' folder of my email program is really my biggest inspiration and my biggest source of lyrics. That's where I go to pick up a lot of the lyrics that I'm writing.