Daring to me is having courage; it's a daily meditation to take breath and find strength.

I think we are living in a time, where as a whole, as a community, people do want to push the boundaries.

I spent the first fourteen years of my life convinced that my looks were hideous. Adolescence is painful for everyone, I know, but mine was plain weird.

I'm lucky to have been raised in the most beautiful place - Amherst, Massachusetts, state of my heart. I'm more patriotic to Massachusetts than to almost any place.

I guess I'm lucky to have been blindsided. I'm lucky to have gotten into fistfights, in a way. I'm lucky I learned how to stop them.

And also I think particularly as a female, you're taught to be defensive your whole life. You're taught not to be aggressive.

But I had a very traditional background as well. My parents are neat people.