Growing up in New York, there are a lot of tenement buildings and a lot of projects. You don't leave your projects too much. The laundry's there. The grocery store is there. Everything takes place right there. When I got knowledge of myself and thought about moving around the city, hip-hop was something that helped me.

I'm me, and the me that's me is me and is going to continue to be me, and it's always reaching and growing.

Being black in America - especially as I was growing up - the feeling of oppression, the feeling of being outcast, the feeling of not having a voice was part of my life.

Growing up, all of my friends would set their schedules to the showing of kung fu movies on TV.

The Summit of the Americas is an excellent platform to raise awareness and secure commitments from heads of state and different sector leaders regarding Early Childhood Development.

Outside of my family, I was always inspired by true heroic stories of leadership and survival. For example, the story of the Shackleton expedition, when their ship became lodged in the Antarctic ice pack while exploring.

Good business leaders create a vision, articulate the vision, passionately own the vision, and relentlessly drive it to completion.

Our history with Americans goes back over 80 years. They came here, they helped us harness our oil and gas, and we became leaders.