I'm fighting the label of 'Black' actress simply because it's very limiting in people's eyes, especially people who are making movies.

There are times when I haven't been proud of America or really proud. But there have been times that I've been incredibly proud of the country.

Everything for me is visual. That's just how my head works.

If you don't look out for others, who will look out for you?

Well, one of the things we felt was missing from the greater conversation is that transgender people have been living and working in America for years...People may think it's a "new" thing; it's not...So we wanted to show not just the political side, which is what you see with Caitlyn Jenner. And not the other side with Laverne Cox, who's great.

Sometimes experience trumps assumption.

I have a production company, and we work with reality TV producers 44 Blue. They asked if we'd like to get involved. When they explained that it was the first transgender modeling agency, we said, "Yeah, of course!"