My only want and wish, really, was to tell a good story. I wanted to do good work, tell a good story, and give the character a voice. Those were my only expectations.

I loved Ghana Must Go by Taiye Selasi. Its about a first-generation African family living in America that has to return home to Nigeria when their estranged father passes away.

I think there's something really thrilling to having to get people laughing about something and then when you have them in that comfort space, you can drop the weight into the texture of the story.

It's exciting to watch people do and write and say what they feel like doing, writing and saying.

I ran track in high school very competitively, and then ran it D-1 at Boston University. I ran there on an athletic scholarship and chose BU because they had both a good track program and an arts program.

Ive heard of nothing coming from nothing, but Ive never heard of absolutely nothing coming from hard work.

I love De la Renta. I love CoSTUME National; I think they're just incredible. And I love Marc Jacobs, too - they're also great, just a great brand.