I'm a strong supporter of comfort breeds complacency. Growing up poor I wasn't comfortable, and my mom had to work so hard and I woke up one day and decided I was not going to come home until I could help her pay the bills.

My grandma used to make syrup for us because we couldn't afford it and I just played around with her recipe. I made strawberry syrup and that didn't really work out but I made strawberry-vanilla and that sold. Then I just went out and took marketing classes, went to seminars, learned about marketing a product and striking deals. It ended up taking orders of $1.5 million.

Do not let anyone tell you what you can be. Do not let anyone tell you that you are not good enough or smart enough. Remember that nobody is better than you. Everybody puts on their pants one leg at a time.

It is not possible to erase racism just because African-Americans have reached a level of financial success and crossover appeal.

Build your own dreams, or someone else will hire you to build theirs.

I firmly believe that the two most important times in a person's life are when they are born and when they find out why they were born.

Keep putting out good. It will come back to you tenfold in unexpected ways.