I had been with a guy for seven years and I was done with that. I wanted to reinvent my whole life and change my hair - I'd had brown, straight extensions forever - and I just wanted to get rid of that, to shed skin, and really just be independent.

I think the world tries to put people in a box, like this is the only appropriate way to be beautiful.

I love to feel that I'm not above anyone.

Once you train you develop your own aesthetic and your confidence. So, I think as I grow I'm learning how to be a singer. I'm training my voice and being on stage and singing and dancing.

Basically, my senior year of high school, I was going to look at prospective colleges and I went to visit Northeastern University because one of my friends was going.

I grew up always wanting to be a dancer and when I went to New York, I fell in love with the idea of performing in all ways.

I think the lion, besides the elephant, was the one animal that I just started thinking about so much.