The Africans know I'm not an African. I'm an American.

I don't think in terms of failure....I don't feel like anyone outside of me should be setting limitations. People should be encouraged to shoot for the moon.

[On writing to Alice Walker, author of The Color Purple:] I told her I would play a Venetian blind, dirt on the floor, anything.

Normal is just a cycle on the washing machine.

What we're doing is not just about becoming a model. It's bigger than that. It's shining a spotlight on folks who know who they are. They know what they want to do. And in terms of modeling, they're already working. They know what they're doing! They're fantastic!

When you are kind to someone in trouble, you hope they'll remember and be kind to someone else. And it'll become like a wildfire.

I fear waking up one morning and finding out my life was all for nothing. We're here for a reason. I believe a bit of the reason is to throw little torches out to lead people through the dark. When you're kind to someone in trouble, you hope they remember and are kind to someone else and so on. Soon it will be like a wildfire.