“In many ways, being pregnant and working were more difficult than motherhood.”

I despise shopping and department stores.

You cannot show people only the petals and not the thorns. It’s not fair to them.

I have the most beautiful daughter in the world and I’m grateful for her.

I enjoy business. I enjoy inspiring women.

I don’t believe in diets.

I like showing moms what it’s really like having a baby, and how it’s not Hollywood life.

Your diet is a bank account. Good food choices are good investments.

I have to be in a relationship where I can say what I feel even if it’s wrong – so we can work through it.

I think that if you don’t enjoy doing something you are not going to be good at it.

Celebration is life’s frosting: isn’t frosting the very best part of the cake?

It doesn’t matter what anybody else thinks of your life. All that matters is what you think of it, and what you decide to make of it.

My business doesn’t keep me warm at night.

I enjoy writing. I enjoy communicating and connecting.

I admire people like Warren Buffett that are donating so much money to charity.

I grew up in a very toxic home.

I’m stronger than anything in my way. Holla!

My dad died when I was young; my mom remarried with more haste than sense to a fellow… he wasn’t evil or anything, but he was worthless.

I’m too tough and sensitive to have to have some pubescent twerp with his mom’s earring in his tongue, who combs his hair with Redi-Whip and has an Ani DiFranco tattoo on his shin, come show me how a computer works.

The Christian take on Hellfire seems less dramatic than the Muslim vision, which I grew up with, but Christian magical thinking appeals to me no more than my mother’s angels and djinns.

We say that a girl with her doll anticipates the mother. It is more true, perhaps, that most mothers are still but children with playthings.

Everybody was going on about it, so mom started hounding me more.

My brother thinks it is very, very bad that I left Islam. My half-sister wants to convert me back; I want to convert her to Western values. My mum is terrified that when I die, and we all go to God, I will be burned.

My mother went to Radcliffe, and rather than just trying to get rich, she wanted to be a teacher and taught for over 30 years in the public schools. She’s definitely got some war stories.

My mum always told me I was precious, while my dad always told me I was worthless. I think that’s a good grounding for a balanced life.