With every word, I drop knowledge. I'm a diamond in the rough, a shiny piece of coal trying to reach my goal.

I think every writer's had the experience of having a really good idea, waiting to write it, and then once you write it, you're like, "Oh I kind of got past the sell by date on this." I'm not connected to the initial spark that was the idea. A lot of that's about staying open.

I think I started writing because no one had ever told me you can write about the things you know in a musical. They don't have to come from some far off place.

Everyday has the potential to be the greatest day of your life

I came up with the "We are explorers," with sort of a counter-melody to [Opetaia Foa'i] melody. And so, it happened so organically, that it really, to me, is the most emblematic of our collaboration.

Ed Koch once said that New York City is where immigrants come to audition for America. That's what happened to my parents; that's what happened to me.

I'm just like my country, I'm young, scrappy and hungry, and I'm not throwing away my shot.