I believe there are certain things that God uses to get us out of a bad situation, and I believe music was one of the things he used for me.

I used to think I was ugly. I thought I looked like a camel. A person who doesn't love themselves, they will see anything that pops up on their face. I've seen squirrels, I've seen a bird, and I've seen all kinds of animals on my face. But that is the result of self-hate. I've learned to say: 'You know what? I am a beautiful black woman'.

If we didn't have understanding of our journey, we wouldn't be able to go on. We'd be stuck, like, 'Why me?'

When I`m going to do a Christmas album I had to put my mind in Christmas mode. I had to go back to being a child and remembering all of that. When I go to do a project, I'm serious about it, so I wrap my world around it, and it becomes Christmastime for me and I'm singing songs like it's Christmas day.

You have to create different things, either through lighting or changing the format of the songs and how you're going to sing them, and even sometimes props.

I decided to start my own label because so many people with talent come to me wanting to know how they can get in the music business.

There are people out there who want to provoke me and bring back the old Mary but I'm not giving them the satisfaction.