There's something different about growing up black and Muslim, especially in New Jersey. It's like when I left the mosque and I left my dad, I felt unprotected, but I also felt a weird sense of pride, like I was involved in this other way of living that was cool to me.

When I just decided to be myself, that's when you get questions like, 'How do you feel about feminism?' And I have no idea; this is just when I decide what I'm not tolerating and what I genuinely think and a little bit in between.

I don't think I'm inherently feminist. I think the universe wants me to be feminist, and I think I resonate with that. I think it just chose me to be this female energy... thing. And I'm very drawn to female energy, but I don't really have any prerequisites in feminism. I just roll with it.

Control is not real, and I'm really understanding that every day. It's about the acceptance of relinquishing control that makes it powerful for you.

As an inspiration to the author, I do not think the cat can be over-estimated. He suggests so much grace, power, beauty, motion, mysticism. I do not wonder that many writers love cats; I am only surprised that all do not.

Families do not stop living. We have got to keep going on. This is what people do.

My goal is not necessarily to be an inspiration. I think, if anything, I want to continue to be inspired and to continue to grow as a person.

We expert teachers know that motivation and emotional impact are what matter.