I've always been proud to be different, I've always stood out like a sore thumb and I always have not given a damn.
I was raised on an Indian reservation, and I didn't see a television set till I was 10, so it's not a part of my life.
If anybody knows how to be friends, it's black women. We have been enslaved and had to care for each other and each other's babies and pick each other up in so many powerful ways. We know to take care of each other, we know how to be friends.
I was in the 4th grade, and one day I didn't want to be in class. My father had just gotten a new Harley-Davidson, and he came and took me out of class. He said it was too beautiful to be indoors, so we stayed out all day.
My father said, 'Let's raise our child in a paradise instead of a parking lot,' and that's what they did.
People say to me, 'Ooh, L.A. is so plastic.' Sure, it's mountains to the right, oceans to the left and pretense in the middle, but who... has to hang out in the middle?
I didn't know about competition until I got to school. I didn't know how degrading it was to be graded until I got to school.
I don't know a single black girl who's carefree because it ain't easy being a girl of color, period. God, I wish we were carefree.
A lot of political things would have to dramatically change in this planet for a woman of color to be carefree.
Being in the body of an African-American woman, I prefer animation. I get to be everybody. I don't have to always be the white girl's best friend. I can be the princess. I can make an inanimate object come to life. I can be a little boy. I can be anything.
Usually cartoon characters stay a certain age; that's part of their appeal. Usually they don't grow up.
When I'm working with strangers, I can get a little timid or scared. With friends, I'm willing to' try anything, because there's a lot of trust involved.
I know what it's like to have not and I know what it's like to have. I think I'm conscious of what I get and grateful.