For the most part, I was surprised by the representation of female characters onscreen. I do hope that when we include more female storytellers, we will have more of the women that I recognize in my day to day life.

I started a production company - all female led, actually - called Freckle Films.

I went to public school, and I didn't do well in school. And it wasn't until, actually, I got into school at Juilliard - it was the first time in my life that I thought, 'Oh, maybe I'm not stupid,' because I was so inspired and passionate about what I was learning, and it was the first time in my life I had felt that.

Before, it was just about making the films - and now it's releasing them. Which is a steep learning curve.

I'm someone who believes in having motivation at all times, win or lose, individual awards.

I want to tell amazing stories that inspire, that bring you out of your reality, give you dreams to be bigger and better than yourself. Hopefully, I can be that conduit.

To be under occupation, to be under siege, is not a good inspiration for poetry.

I, with a deeper instinct, choose a man who compels my strength, who makes enormous demands on me, who does not doubt my courage or my toughness, who does not believe me naive or innocent, who has the courage to treat me like a woman.