In the mid-nineties, diversity in the fashion/beauty business was hard to come by.

When I was younger, I was one of the few girls in the neighborhood who could break dance. That's kind of my local, ghetto-celebrity claim to fame.

I grew up in the South Bronx, raised by my grandmother, who scrapped and scraped to make sure I had a roof over my head and food in my stomach. I was painfully aware of what it was like to live with limited resources and a certain level of uncertainty.

In the mid-nineties, diversity in the fashion/beauty business was hard to come by.

With all this talk of Going Green, Buying Green, Living Green, and Green being the new whatever, I've come to realize that, although we had no green, my grandmother was actually the 'greenest' person I've ever known.

You have to move to your own beat. There will be times when no one believes in you or understands what you're doing and why you are doing it. The most important thing is for you to believe in you. Following your own vision is one of the only things that will sustain you.

My grandmother instilled in me two important lessons: I was just as good as anyone else, and education was my salvation. Fortunately, I was able to get scholarships to excellent schools, but I was one of the lucky ones. All of this is what draws me to anti-poverty organizations like Oxfam.