“We come from a legacy of businessowners. We were making fish and selling it out of the back kitchen door. We were cornrowing hair on college campuses. We know how to do this thing called business. Figure out how you can have multiple streams of income. You can absolutely turn your passions into profits.”
On gun violence in America: “Since 1980 in the U.S., 611,000 American citizens have been killed on the streets of America to gun violence. It’s more than all of the American citizens that were killed in all of the wars in the 20th century: World War I, World War II, Korea, Vietnam, and the Afghanistan and Iraq wars. That means to me that we have an epidemic of violence.”
On being a part of the VH1 show, Hollywood Exes: “It was definitely worth it. It was not about money. It was not about exposure…This was a platform for me to introduce myself to the world. I didn’t meet my ex and become a dancer. That’s how he met me in the first place. My show is not about R. Kelly divorcing me. It’s about why he married me in the first place.”
“Balance is important. We like to party, but we also have to organize. We like to eat, but we need to try eat well. We like to go to church, but then we have to work during the week. No one is telling you not to enjoy your life and not to rest and relax, but there are a lot of critical issues that people of color are facing. In order for us to make any strides, we are going to have to sacrifice and put in a little bit of elbow grease and get some work done.”
On success and how she makes decisions: “Would deathbed me be happy with the decisions I had made? Would deathbed me be happy with me constantly making excuses for not doing something? With me staying at a job longer than I should? With me having a passion for something and not pursuing it? Think about you on your deathbed and with you being happy about the decisions you made in your life. That’s a big motivator for me.”