Being a growing entertainer, period, you're going to always have struggles. I'm still trying to learn how to even perform right onstage.

I'd promised my parents that I'd go to college, take the time to grow up a bit, and experience something different before really pursuing music.

In this business, you can't get too attached to something.

Empire' was already given its green light. I was like, 'Alright, this makes perfect sense. They wouldn't be going this hard on me if I didn't have it.' So it was last minute when I learned, you know, it's a business decision. That was my fault.

We've got a long career ahead of us and it's going to be great. Trust me.

My early colleagues and myself helped create the life styles of Americans and, by osmosis, of the rest of the world. I found it difficult to reconcile success with humility. I tried it first, but it meant avoiding the very essence of my career - total exhilaration and the ecstasy of creativity.

If I feel like I've done a great job during an interview with the president of the United States live in the Oval Office, it doesn't give me a tenth of the good feeling of going to the school play and making eye contact with my kids as they're onstage delivering their lines. Nothing compares with that moment of connection.

In 1989, I started the National Association of Business Women. We incorporated microfinance and different job training for women. We did a survey, with USAID, that found women lacked training, credit and information.