I have to do the work of self-love and affirmation, and say, "I am a woman, I am a person of color, I am the granddaughter of immigrants, I am also the descendant of slaves, I am a mother, I am an entrepreneur, I am an artist, and I'm joyful." And maybe in seeing my joy, you can finish your sentence with, "And I am joyful too."

When you leave here today and commence the next stage of your life, you can follow someone else's script, try to make choices that will make other people happy, avoid discomfort, do what is expected, and copy the status quo. Or you can look at all that you have accomplished today and use it as fuel to venture forth and write your own story. If you do, amazing things will take shape.

I can be in a little bit of a state of overwhelm and panic if I don't start out being connected to grace and gratitude.

I grew up in New York, so I fell in love with acting on a stage, not in front of a camera.

You're able to make a real difference. If a woman's able to step away financially, she's able to begin to do all the other work.

If I ever have a family one day, everything else will pale in importance to that.

I have a deep, deep love for sneakers.