As a little girl growing up in Southside Jamaica Queens, if anyone would've told me I'd have my own perfume one day, and be able to inspire young black girls everywhere, to go into Macy's or Nordstrom's and see their face staring back at them - I wouldn't believe them.

Female rappers get it the hardest. You have to be a girl, yet you have to be just as hard as the guys. I think some female rappers get scared out of the business before they can make it.

I've always had this female-empowerment thing in the back of my mind - because I wanted my mother to be stronger, and she couldn't be.

My rule is, whatever you were calling me four years ago is what you should be calling me now, because I don't like it when my family or close friends call me Nicki Minaj. To me I'm not Nicki Minaj when I'm with them.

Thought is the original source of all wealth, all success, all material gain, all great discoveries and inventions, and of all achievement.

Our success at Cisco has been defined by how we anticipate, capture, and lead through market transitions. Over the years, I've watched iconic companies disappear - Compaq, Sun Microsystems, Wang, Digital Equipment - as they failed to anticipate where the market was heading.

For the longest time, I was horrified to hear the word 'failure,' but I've come to realize that we all fail. It's just a part of life. We all fall. It's how you rebound that shows the type of person you are.

Success is all about persistence and doing the right thing for the long term.