Grandfather, Great Spirit, once more behold me on earth and lean to hear my feeble voice.
Sexiness is all in the eye of the beholder. I think it should be. Absolutely. My sex appeal, whatever it might be, isn't obvious... at least to me.
Just being a girl coming from YouTube, I know what it's like to have a very humble, simple beginning. It would be kinda crazy for my fans if I made it huge in that way and became the next big thing. I wanna be able to do it for them and say, 'Look, this is what you've done for me.'
Movies have always been spaces of refuge for me. For a few harmonious hours, I could escape my reality of being a girl living on the margins.
I never let people see me without makeup. And it's not an insecurity thing. The perk of being a girl is being able to wear makeup and dress up. It's another artistic outlet. And the 45 minutes it takes me to get ready... is very therapeutic for me. It's hard to start my day without that.
My parents tried to sell me. I was looking for a way to share my feelings, so I started to rap to talk about the painful experience of being a girl.
My celebrity status allows me an opportunity, allows me a pulpit to preach and reach out to the people. Not even always preaching but just leading, motivating them by being a leader.
I loved multi-tasking. I loved being involved in a lot of things. To me, the more complex the better, and so being a leader of a business to me was like, 'Wow, that's what I want to be.'
Back in the day, what motivated me was overcoming myself. Now I believe in being a leader. I've done it all - I'm good. Now, it's about setting an example for others to follow. I can't just talk it - I have to live it.
Leadership is possible in all different ways, and in all different areas of life. Whether it is with friends or family, I expect them to set a great example for me, and hopefully I will do the same for them. And that is all part of being a leader.
Whether it is with friends or family, I expect them to set a great example for me, and hopefully I will do the same for them. And that is all part of being a leader.
Anyway, I've never been captain in 16 years in the NHL. But that didn't stop me being a leader in my own way.
My consciousness is a process, and that includes my relationship with my husband. His being white doesn't make me any less black or invested in black issues, the same way him being a man doesn't make me any less of a feminist.
People ask for this life, but they don't really understand what comes with it. People just see the outside and that looks good - big houses, cars, girls, but you never see how the person is feeling deep down inside. Me personally, being a man, I'm going to feel better displaying all of this and pouring my heart out on each record.
Homeboy Industries is a healing center for broken children. I was a broken child, and they showed me how to put all those pieces back together. It's not about being a gangster. It's about being a man or a woman trying to recover and live better.
In fact, you couldn't give me anything to make me go back to being a teenager. Never. No, I hated it.
I was not popular in school, and I was definitely not a ladies' man. And I had a very painful adolescence, because it was all very strange to me. It wasn't like I got beat up, but the humiliation and isolation, and the existential 'God, I exist, and nobody cares' of being a teenager were extremely pronounced for me.
I am not allowed to be afraid. My mother made me like that. As a child, if I was afraid of the dark, she would lock me in the closet. Things like this. And she would talk about the time she spent in the concentration camp, but not about being afraid, only about the good side of it.
It would be too frightening for me to consider myself a role model. But I like the idea of not being afraid of letting your imagination rule you, to feel the freedom of expression, to let creativity be your overwhelming drive rather than other things.
I can cite numerous sponsors at different places in my career that made a huge difference for me just in terms of pulling me aside and giving me a tip or some coaching, or just watching what I was doing and not being afraid to tell me the truth about it.
