I went to public - I graduated from publics - Westchester High. I'm a product of LA Unified.

I would like to believe that most people don't get married anticipating divorce. When I reached that crossroad, I felt like such a failure. After years of therapy together, I realized that staying together was emotionally destructive.

"Southland" was not written for a black woman.

I think I've been lucky in the regard to have a team that sees me as an artist.

I'm just really thankful to have the chance to portray a character you don't see every day.

I love my city and I feel like the majority of the people that are in the city are people from other cities. So I think that L.A. sometimes might get a bad rap because it's known to be so Hollywood-oriented and then underneath that you have crime. But that's really the case in pretty much any major city that you go to.

I recognize the amount of time that it takes as a director. I made the choice to stop taking roles outside of L.A. because I didn't want to miss any of my child's life.