I think it's important to represent black women and our natural hair. Not wearing a weave is totally beautiful and acceptable.

Music has always helped me stay creative and grounded because I'm traveling and shooting and trying to understand other people. Music was something I could just sit in a room and make with my friends.

I had talked to my agent a lot over the years about not being interested in stereotypical "black films" [because] I didn't like the way they were representing black people over and over and over again in the same way.

I'm pretty much a thrift shop gal. Flea markets on Sundays.

Black women have kinky hair, and we think we have limitations on what we can do. It's interesting that people think, 'Oh this is the only thing they can do.' But if you have blonde, straight hair and don't change it for 20 years - nobody thinks about it. Nobody says anything!

So, absolutely, [my Dad] will call and say, "I just got offered this or that and what do you think?" My Mom [Lisa Bonet] will do the same. And we all trust each other's opinions. And we all know each other so well and what we're capable of so, if someone's scared to do something, we encourage them to take that chance because we believe in each other as a family.

I was pretty lucky, I went to a really great school. I went to a Steiner School, which is very small and nurturing and creative, so I felt like I was in an environment where I could mature. There was less of the clique-y stuff, which can really make high school a living hell for a lot of people, going on, so I was very similar then to who I am now. I'm still a dork.