I was 23, and all sorts of people were coming in and out and watching me, like Steve Allen and Bette Midler. David Brenner certainly took me under his wing. To drive home to my little dump in New Jersey often knowing that Steve Allen said, 'You got it' - that validation kept me going in a big, big way.

I'm 70; I'm just glad I'm on top of the ground. Honest to God.

My grandmother was a Jewish juggler: she used to worry about six things at once.

My performance level has risen - and my anxiety-level has sky-rocketed.

In our culture, when the parents are having a tough time, the grandparents take care of the kids.

At City, we don't just have successful people: we have great human beings who know that family is paramount.

My mother's rules had to do with feminine deportment, so I never played hard enough to break a toy or muddy my dress. My father's rules had to do with never shaming the family by even a hint of scandal, and not providing business rivals with an opportunity to kidnap me or throw acid in my face.

Great numbers of Asian Americans do not fit the model minority or 'tiger family' stereotypes, living instead in multigenerational poverty far from the mainstream.