When I was growing up, my parents would apologize when we didn't have enough money for something. I'd always tell them that it was O.K. and that I had learned to work hard because of them.

I just think it's crazy that we don't think that the youth are valid. They're the ones who really know what's going on.

My mother struggled immensely with mental illness, and so did I. She grew up bipolar, but it was never diagnosed nor recognized. It was shrugged off like a 'symptom' of being female - of her being weak. I also experienced this growing up: I felt that the great pain I experienced was a dramatisation.

I was depressed at a very young age - mental illness runs in my family, especially on the female side.