Enough About Me. What Do You Think

A Lot Of People Have No Access To Beauty. When I Was Growing Up, My Mother Had Only A Few Pretty Things To Look At.

Sometimes You Have To Make Your Own Opportunities, And That's Why I'm On Tv. I Wasn't Going To Sit Around Anymore, Waiting For The Damn Phone To Ring. I Had To Create My Own Place - I've Always Done That.

When I Started In This [music] Business, I Had A Dream, But It Was Amorphous, And I Had No Experience. I Just Had A Fuzzy Notion Of What Life Would Be Like If I Became What I Pictured.

My Parents Taught Me: Do Not Rely On A Man. Not Rely On It That You Get Married And It Pays For You. That's What I Figured. I Have Always Paid My Own Bills.

One Of My First Role Models Was Eugene Lang, A Wealthy Businessman Who Went Back To His Elementary School In East Harlem And Addressed The Sixth-grade Class. He Looked Out At That Sea Of Faces And Said, "if Any Of You Wants To Go To College, I Will Pay For It." When I Read That, I Burst Into Tears. It Was So Generous And So Basic. Not Fluffy. I Can't Understand Why We Scrimp On Education And Shortchange Our Kids. Why Would The Citizenry Do That To The People Who Are Going To Inherit Its Republic?