My mom is Jamaican and Chinese, and my dad is Polish and African American, so I'm pretty mixed. My nickname in high school was United Nations. I was fine with it, even though I identify as a black woman. People don't realize it hurts my feelings when someone looks at my hair or my eyes, and says, "But you're not actually black. You're black, but you're not black black, because your eyes are green." I'm like, "What? No, no, I'm definitely black." Even some of my closest friends have said that. It's been a bit touchy for me.

My mom is Jamaican and Chinese, and my dad is Polish and African American, so I'm pretty mixed. My nickname in high school was United Nations. I was fine with it, even though I identify as a black woman. People don't realize it hurts my feelings when someone looks at my hair or my eyes, and says, "But you're not actually black. You're black, but you're not black black, because your eyes are green." I'm like, "What? No, no, I'm definitely black." Even some of my closest friends have said that. It's been a bit touchy for me.

My thing is "You don't need anyone else to empower you; you can empower yourself." Whether it's a pep talk or putting on a good shade of lipstick, whatever you need to do, do it, but be yourself. You absolutely don't need someone else to tell you that you're good enough.

Beauty to me is in the eye of the beholder. Beauty comes in all different shapes, sizes, looks, qualities, but I truly believe that everybody is beautiful in their own way.

I didn't like my mouth because I always felt like it was a sausage for a bottom lip, and I have an overbite, so I can't exactly close my mouth. It's really, really hard! But now I like it because it's kind of sultry, and it's my mouth. I should say I don't consider my bottom lip a sausage lip now - I like it, but I guess I grew into it. I definitely saved a couple hundred bucks instead of getting fillers.

I'm not an actress; I'm not a singer. I guess I'm in the entertainment industry, but I'm in a different category. Hopefully, a young girl will see me and think, Oh, I want to be a chef! Or, She's a mom, too? Oh, cool, I didn't know you could do both! I want to empower people so they don't have to feel like they're putting themselves in a box. Growing up, I only saw one thing, and it's great that we're changing the mold and paving our own paths.

I feel like you can hope and dream and wish, but until you do, nothing is going to happen. So whatever you're passionate about, whatever your hopes and dreams are, you have to go full-steam ahead. But of course I have my moments where I'm trying so hard, and it never seems to break through. It's always when you want to give up that something's going to happen, right? So you just can't give up.