When I went to school, it was to be an electrical engineer. I graduated with a degree in industrial management and worked in trucking for a couple of years. Then I decided that I was bored with the trucking industry and that I would go back to graduate school.

There were always other children in our house, even though I'm an only child - there were always these other kids coming by.

I have a masters in African-American literature, and I got a Ph.D. in American Literature. I spent a number of years teaching as a professor in the university system. Then I turned forty and decided I was going to be the woman I wanted to be!

I think often we like to talk about the strength of black women, and really, that can become an interesting stereotypical trap - that these women are so strong, that they don't fear anything, they don't need help, and they have no vulnerabilities. Well, that's not a human person! That takes away a lot of the humanity as well.