The first eight years of schooling was with all white people. So that helped me to understand how white people think. I think that transition is what helped me bridge the gap, because that's what my success has really been about: bridging the gap between the black community and the white community.

If you're absent during my struggle, don't expect to be present during my success.

Our whole dream for our home was for it to be an artist's haven. So there are paint supplies; there's a piano with a microphone and a recorder right there to capture things right in the second. There's editing equipment. There are cameras. I think the only thing in our house that people would be surprised by is the efficiency.

Stop letting people who do so little for you control so much of your mind, feelings and emotions

I want the world to be better because I was here.

When I was growing up, I installed refrigerators in supermarkets. My father was an electrical engineer.

You can't break poor people mentality. Once you grow up poor, you don't take anything for granted. It can have the negative side also because you can never truly be relaxed.