I started to realize that everyone goes through those doubts, and I need to try and be the best version of me I can - not only for myself but everyone around me.

Making excuses and not trying because I was scared were my go-to reactions. Nothing was going to change in my life unless I did something about it.

If we can just try every day to be the best versions of ourselves, we are offering to the world the best addition to society.

Sometimes, as a young artist, I was looking for validation to know I was good enough, and that's what the initial audition gave me. It made me feel like I was doing something right, even if it is a scary or unstable path.

I live in Brooklyn, New York. It is a melting pot of cultures and people. I walk down the street, and there is art on the buildings and people congregating who have been neighbors for years and events and music and freedom.

I am constantly trying to figure things out, and writing and decompressing is a way for me to analyze and try and grow and understand.

The weight loss has been a secondary change to the mental changes I have made. Weight loss does not fix problems; how you view yourself does.