The best piece of advice that I remember probably on a daily basis is to accept everything about me that is different. That is what makes me special.

Ballet was exactly what I was searching for, but my environment definitely made me the dancer and the person that I am today. And the Hip-Hop culture was a big part of it.

My body is very different from most of the dancers I dance with. My hair is different than most I dance with. But I didn't let that stop me. Black girls rock and can be ballerinas.

Everything I was being shown was ABT, so I grew up watching these videos of [Mikhail] Baryshnikov, Gelsey [Kirkland] and Paloma [Herrera]. Paloma and Angel [Corella] were the first people I ever saw dance live.

Without my mentors there is no Misty.

I ended up training only for four years before I was accepted into American Ballet Theater in New York City.

I know that most of the time I have to work overtime to do everything that I want to.