Directing music videos is all about capturing images.

As long as the acting is good, I can appreciate it.

I'm a self-made woman. I've never compromised myself.

I'm also working on another independent film called Roxanne, Roxanne, about Roxanne Shante, who was one of the first African American battle rappers from Brooklyn. It is produced by Forest Whitaker and Pharrell [williams], so I'm really in great hands.

I admire the women who can have babies and jump right back to work. As a nursing mother, I couldn’t sit there and just pump all day. I needed to be close to my baby.

I think it's dangerous to look at every Muslim woman the same and to assume that every experience within the religion is the same, meaning that there are going to be strong and assertive women that are Muslim. There's going to be a more passive woman who just so happens to be a Muslim. There may be a funny, big-personality woman and she's Muslim.

It's like going to the gym everyday. It really is. I work hard on my craft, I sweat a little bit, I run a little bit, I might sprain an ankle every now and them, but it's all good and the more you do it, the more in shape you are and it's like a machine.