My roots have never left me... because the very first memory I have is my mom singing and me singing with her.

I think it's very important to live in the present. One of the great things that improvising teaches you is the magic of the moment that you're in because, when you improvise, you're in right now. You're not in yesterday or tomorrow - you're right in the moment.

One of the things my mom used to do - I don't know why she chose me, but she chose me out of her six children to take to the African-American church that was in the town that we lived in Springfield, Missouri. And we would go to the church, and we would sit in the back row, and we would listen to all of the spirituals in the hymns.

It used to be that creative music was most of the music that you heard back in the '30s and '40s, and now it's like 3 percent. So, its kind of a struggle getttin' it out there.

My parents separated when I was young, and as a result, my father had to learn how to braid our hair on the nights my sisters and I would stay with him. We would arrive to school the next morning with these incredibly endearing lopsided braids he had fashioned. This may have expedited the process of my learning how to braid my own hair.

So many of us have friends or family who have battled cancer, and we know how important it is to find a cure.

I am very lucky, I have a very tight group of friends and a very supportive family, and to this date no-one has ever sold a story on me.

Over the years, I've learnt how to strike a balance between both my lives and give quality time to my passion as well as to my family. Yes, it is tiring at times, and every working woman goes through the phase.