-
Starting in music, where I get a chance to connect with the lyrics of a song, I learned so much about performing on stage and connecting to your audience and to what you're singing about. Singing is very emotional. Every song has its own purpose.
-
I'm obsessed with Starbucks seasonal flavors. I love their seasonal cups. I love their pumpkin-flavored coffee. I love that. I absolutely love, love, love Starbucks seasonal everything.
-
One of my biggest inspirations growing up was Whitney Houston, so I was devastated to hear about her passing. I'm from East Orange, New Jersey, and started singing at New Hope Baptist Church, so she was like my fellow Jersey girl.
-
I want to do stories that inspire people.
-
I don't just want to be a cute girl in a comedy or the actress who just does the same thing over and over again. I want to play roles that are distinct. I want to have a more varied career like actresses Viola Davis or Angela Bassett - those are the people that I grew up watching and admiring.
-
As a black actress you've got to work doubly hard. But it doesn't ever get me to the point where I give up on myself. It just motivates me to be more prepared, focus and disciplined. That's why I care so much about doing black films and making sure that we represent and are represented correctly.
-
Singing is my passion and something that I still love to do and I'm always going to want to do it.
-
I want to be back on Broadway one day. That's a dream of mine. There's nothing like live theater, and I think it's so important for me to be able to be on stage with an audience that responds.
-
I was excited to play Lil' Kim and I wanted to do the role justice. I worked really hard on that role, whether it was performing the rhymes, studying the dialect, her swagger and her stage performances. I wanted people to see my range and stretch my wings as an actress.
-
Oh, you know, I think it was definitely a little pressure, to remake something like 'Fame'.
-
I definitely want my career to continue to branch out. I've had the pleasure of working in different areas of entertainment, from being in the music business as a teenager in a girl group to doing Broadway.
-
I was pretty young when I decided I wanted to, well, more so be a singer. I started singing in church in my hometown, East Orange, New Jersey. I knew when I was about five or six that I wanted to be a performer.
-
I work out and go to the gym, but I still enjoy my soul food and snacks. But I'm a pretty petite young woman, and I just do everything in moderation and make sure that I just keep everything together.
-
I'm a true singer who grew up singing in church, so I love singing my heart out.
-
I think a lot of young people don't realize the price of fame is a lot higher than they imagine.
-
The best thing a man can do on a first date is be a friend. I think that's the biggest mistake men make on the first date. Just get to know me. Be my friend. Just kick it with me as if I was hanging with a homeboy. It shouldn't be this awkward situation. It should be that we're there, having a great time.
-
I see my sister, and she's on her second baby, and I'm like, 'That's success.' Having a family - I can't wait for that.
-
I feel like in L.A., you wake up, you put your diamond studs on, put your workout gear, your cute shades, and it is kind of the outfit you stay in the entire day.
-
I have an odd fetish with nails. I was always doing beauty blogs about nails, and it would be on Fridays called 'Friday's Fingertip Fetish.' It became so popular that a nail polish company approached me, and Fingertip Fetish was born.
-
Zara right now has incredible jeans. I'm obsessed. They have these jeans that have those ridges on the knees. I swear they have a little bit of stretch to them, so they hug everything in the right places. They've got great boyfriend jeans that are torn up, and you can cuff them.
-
I don't love duck nails, where the nails are really wide on top. I am not a fan of that!
-
One of my favorite fall items is a turtleneck. Cozy pieces like that for the fall - cashmere, fluffy cream turtlenecks - I think that's so sexy.
-
Understand that life is journey. I haven't achieved the success I wanted to achieve yet, but that's OK - it's coming.
-
I wasn't born with a silver spoon in my mouth; I came from really humble beginnings - the projects of New York City - and I worked my way to get to where I am.