I grew up in New Orleans. I had just moved into my dorm at the University of New Orleans, and I was doing laundry, and my mom called me, like, 'We've got to evacuate. There's a hurricane's coming.'

Boys do cry, but I don't think I shed a tear for a good chunk of my teenage years.

When I was growing up, there was nobody in my family - not even my mother - who I could look to and be like, 'I know you've never said anything homophobic.' So, you know, you worry about people in the business who you've heard talk that way. Some of my heroes coming up talk recklessly like that.

I feel like I was writing as I was learning to talk. Writing was always a go-to form of communication. And I knew I could sing from being in tune with the radio.

It's often said that if doing something was easy, everyone would be doing it. I think that's particularly true when you're trying to make your mark or architect your own career. There's often not a path to follow.

New York is very career-orientated and it's hard to take time off here, but that is great for building a business.

If you look at my career, I've never gone to a team that had fulfilled their potential.

The best career advice to give to the young is, 'Find out what you like doing best and get someone to pay you for doing it.'