Out Of Necessity Comes Genius.

My Mother Really Wanted Me To Be In Possibly A Beauty Pageant, Not Only For If I Could Win, But It Helped Improve My Self-image Because Of Trauma In My Childhood And Other Issues.

Women Are Allowed More Freedoms And We're Fighting For More Freedoms, We're Experiencing More Freedoms Won.

I Never Went In Thinking, "you're An African-american Woman, So You're Never Going To Win." I Was Just In Career Doing Beauty Pageants For The Experience, And To Show My Brains And Talent And Help Break Stereotypes. It Wasn't Like, "oh, I'll Become A Star. I'm Beautiful." I Never Thought I Was Pretty. I Couldn't Even Put On Eyelashes Or Makeup. When You Come From An Environment That's Military, And They Don't Stress That Topic Of Aesthetics Or Beauty Pageants And Makeup, There Are A Lot Of Things You Just Don't Have That City Girls Have.

The African-american Community Is Not Monolithic. It's Liberal And Conservative.

I'm A Big Child At Heart. I Think It's Important To Stay That Way And Not Lose The Wonder Of Life.