For me, I try to see difficulties as a way of expanding and growing as a person inhabiting this planet.

And that might have led to other shows but you know what LA is like. I was in my early 30s and it wasn't going to get easier. You know, that's when you start to wonder if you might have to get lots of plastic surgery.

For the pageants, it was my mother who got me involved in Miss America. It really gave me the opportunity to sing all around New Hampshire. And it was great when I was young, but looking back, it was also unbelievably stressful.

I think it really holds you back having to think about your image.

I had to figure out that finding my place was not about race but about creativity, and connecting with other artists helped me find my voice.

I barely knew I wanted to be an artist. I liked my art classes and painting was fun, I guess, but I didn't realize that seeing the country was going to inspire me to further explore that... but that's what it did.

A huge part of my writing process is listening to music as I write, almost creating an unofficial soundtrack to the film I'm working on, a sort of playlist. But the specific songs change rapidly as I write.

The use of travelling is to regulate imagination by reality, and instead of thinking how things may be, to see them as they are.