“Given that this was all at a tender age, I imagine I was very impressionable.”

If you’re not broadcasting what people feel is their truth as it relates to you, well that becomes a problem.

All of my friends are independent in thought, that’s important.

People automatically assume and expect that every moment and every bit of personal data should be broadcasted on social media, especially as it relates to them – and thats just not cuttin’ it for me.

I was pretty much predominantly raised by women, as they make up most of my family anyway.

I think friends are an extension of you and I always say, check out a persons five immediate friends and you’ll know everything about them.

I was drawn into acting due to the fact that I could express myself better.

Most people have no idea what Cabo Verde is or even where it is to mention, so I definitely want to make people aware of this beautiful culture.

However, I was very conscious of the fact that both sides of my family were drastically different and my aunts, cousins, and uncles varied in different shades of brown.

My hero among heroes is my grandmother, she’s the epitome of strength and I try to mock that strength all the time. She’s a beast.

You just have to be careful because social media can begin to affect personal things such as relationships, just to pin point. People have become so entitled as it relates to social media.

I love to love. However, you won’t see anybody walking the red carpet with me until I’m married.

Your life and everything about your world should be represented on your social media accounts, and everybody feels that way from family to friends to boyfriends and girlfriends.

I surround myself with strong willed, courageous personalities, because I’ve got to be coached by the best.

I do everything I can on a daily basis just so I can have something to give back to the world.

I’ve had people question my “integrity” based off of something I didn’t post on social media, the list goes on. It’s mind boggling.

I think I unknowingly seek people who are better than me in the sense of strength and wisdom. It’s like I’ve got to know and trust that you have the answers and that you can carry me if needed.

The legs that I have made are far more perfect than the ones nature would have given me – my mother’s side of the family have awful legs.

The best advice anybody could have given me was to keep getting up over and over again.

To see things as you see them or to see things differently—until you have given the whole world its freedom—you’ll never have your freedom.

I also have to speak out for people around me who are afraid, who think it is not worth it or who have totally given up hope. So I want to set an example: you can do it and this is OK, to speak out.

Jazz does not belong to one race or culture, but is a gift that America has given the world.

Everybody is free to be as they are. Until the whole world is free to agree with you or disagree with you, until you have given the freedom to everyone to like you or not like you, to love you or hate you,

To have given pleasure to one human being is a recollection that sweetens life.

I’ve known great happiness in my life along with great darkness, and a question that has repeatedly entered my poetry has been, how do we use the direct experience of happiness that may be given us.