There's a lot that I haven't put up there since my husband passed away because then it would be grief everyday. I have to fight within myself at times and ask, 'how do I go through the grief and find a light, even a glimmer of it?'

I don't do anything by myself. I have a whole crew to get me ready every day.

If you are an activist, you have to stay active on a daily basis.

The one thing my mother instilled in me, well both my parents but specifically my mother - I come from a Muslim country where boys were more wanted than girls so she always made me feel that there is nothing that I couldn't do as well as the boys if not better.

My saving grace was that I always knew when to leave the party.

A self-esteem issue doesn't change whether you're considered beautiful or not because it's about what's inside you.

We grew up as poor people but we never knew poverty. I still love and miss the Somalia I grew up in. Things changed, when my father became a diplomat later on.