I think I always kind of wanted to be a musician but never dared to say it out loud because I never thought it was possible. I wanted to be a teacher, a lawyer, a doctor - I wanted to be a lot of other things growing up.

Feminism has always been a theme that I'm very interested in.

Teachers have been some of the most important people in my career.

My sister's job does not involve music, but she is an amazing singer and songwriter.

I use acting to get away from myself and to live in someone else's skin, and I do singing to get inside my own skin. I need them both for my emotional health.

All advocacy is, at its core, an exercise in empathy.

I once interviewed my grandma for a class project about the Second World War. After 70 years filled with marriage, children, grandchildren, death, poverty and triumph, the thing about which she was unquestionably the proudest and most excited was that she and her family did their part during the war.

For a family to have five kids and to have emigrated from the West Indies, my father from Jamaica and my mother from Montserrat - it's not easy to provide for five kids let alone put three kids in AAA hockey, one being a goalie, and put two daughters through university.