When you think about advertising, it's understanding that whether it's newspaper, radio, or television, you have to know how to advertise, how to market, because ultimately, everything comes down to ratings and revenue or ratings and subscribers and revenue, whether it's newspapers or radio or television.

When I was at the 'Philadelphia Inquirer,' I was promoted nine times in my first 13 years. I ultimately went from general assignment to beats on St. Joe's and Temple, to backup writer, to NBA writer, to NBA columnist, to, ultimately, in 2003, to general sports columns.

I came up in this industry at a time where you had to be a journalist. You had to break stories. You had to break news to elevate your career, to get to a certain point and a certain level in this business, before you even had the license to give your opinion, especially if you were a black man.

Corporate America doesn't give a damn about you. It does not care about your feelings. It wants productivity, and whoever doesn't produce is going to be pushed out, and the way is going to be paved for somebody else to step into your shoes who can do the job.

I was pursuing my acting career, but I was silent on the LGBT issue, the issue that was closest to me. I knew if I came out then, I'd have had to change careers.

If any company goes and does something stupid, the market is going to address that, and the rest of the industry is going to go and address that and say that is not accepted behavior, that is not an accepted practice, and it will self-correct.

After I finished college, I got a job on Wall Street as a derivatives trader, but after a couple years of it, I was calling in sick in order to work on my novel.

When I told my father that I wanted to join the film industry, he asked me if I was sure about it, as acting is a very insecure profession. He also asked me if my reason to join the same profession like him was to have an easy road. I said no.