We're so preoccupied with protecting children from disappointment and discomfort that we're inadvertently excusing them from growing up.

Growing up, I didn't know anything about money other than we didn't have any.

Believe me, I recognize the cultural and anatomical challenges and respect the sacrifices women make in order to balance family and a career, or family with no career, or career with no family.

I don't begrudge a coach for trying to get all that he or she can. I don't resent a school feeling it needs to pay to keep top talent. I'm just afraid to think where all of this will end up because the overall impact seems to be stretching far beyond the scoreboard.

When it comes to my family I never quite know how protective I have to be, or what I should or shouldn't say.

I was always on the go, and thought I was too busy to develop something like this. I thought at the time that diabetes went along with bad habits, but I was the last one in my family to eat junk food.

The people that have inspired me the most were dancers and choreographers. Even growing up, if I dealt with any pressure to be a certain way, I knew that as an artistic lane, dancing was the one that was a little more freed up - like, no one in my family is really doing that; I can be that person.

I walk in a space of gratitude. I'm so grateful to God for blessing me with an amazing family and the opportunity to do what I love.