At any age, you are growing up at some level, but as far as maturing and growing up, a lot of that happens in your 20s: a lot of mistakes still to make and insecurities. But at around 27, I started to come into my own as a real adult.

I feel like a lot of women have been questioning their role in their workplaces and society, opportunities that they may have missed or haven't spoken up for.

That's what I love doing - understanding another person's perspective that's really different from mine. To me, it's like an emotional puzzle, trying to figure out the humanity of a character who is very different from myself and why they think the way they do.

My philosophy is to eat as healthy as I can whenever I can, but not to beat myself up when I don't.

New Orleans taught me that mourning takes many different forms. Where I'm from, mourning is spirited. It is loud.

I know my mom, she'd want her death to encourage people to be open about their struggles.

I was only ever briefly angry with my dad for leaving us. It happened shortly after his death, when things were at their darkest and the grief in me was raw and at its worst.

I never really had to deal with a death in the family, let alone my brother.