Growing up, my aunts would always put in hair ties and bows and all kinds of stuff, and I always hated it.

My father is German; my mother is African-American. Growing up, I visited my grandparents in Berlin a lot. I would not see any other person of color for three weeks. People would stare. They would say things like, 'Oh, you look like chocolate - I want to eat you up!'

For me, a big thing growing up was naturalness - both in being and appearance. My mom never let me relax my natural hair. For so long, I thought I was ugly, and I still sometimes struggle with that. But now I've come to feel like this is me.

Growing up I definitely, definitely had a bunch of things of, 'Um, am I black enough?' - and I guess specifically, 'Am I German enough?' Why are we measuring blackness?

Reading with my children is incredibly important to me and a wonderful way to spend time together as a family, exploring magical worlds through books and stories.

Love and fear. Everything the father of a family says must inspire one or the other.

My husband knows who I am. My friends, my family - they know I would never lie.

Sibling relationships are complicated. All family relationships are. Look at Hamlet.