Just speaking from growing up in the projects, it was hard for me to take dance classes or voice classes because I didn't have money. Or learn an instrument because I didn't have the money to buy one.

Looking back, when my cousins and I were kids, we'd put together these little skits - these 10-minute improv scenes. I didn't really understand what I was doing - that I was writing these mini-sketches and acting - but we were all totally into it.

There are sad moments - lonely moments - when you're sitting up in your room all by yourself, shooting on location in Atlanta or Vancouver or L.A., and your family's back home. You can miss home.

I grew up in Bushwick, and I lived with my mom. She was a single parent with three kids. I've got an older brother and a younger sister. We all were pretty active kids, but school wasn't particularly our strong suit; we were always good at other things.

In my barrio, jobs work and money saves lives. When I have had the funds to place a gang member on a job site and pay his salary, I've seen him stop banging. When, on the rarest of occasions, an employer has offered a job to one of these youth, I've witnessed kids suddenly have a reason to get up in the morning.

If you raise taxes on the rich, you don't raise much money. I mean, this is one of the things that the U.S. is doing, but it's doing it for political reasons, not for financial reasons.

Yes, I started out as an anchor on television, but that was just 'me being me,' trying to make some pocket money.

Regardless of what you plan to use it for, the goal should always be to raise money right before you need it. You don't want to get into a situation where you need cash and you're unable to raise it - or you're unable to raise it on favorable terms. As with any negotiation, you want to raise from a position of strength.