I'm a big fan of a slit on a dress, so it's always worth having a little look in the mirror just before you go out to see where your limits are and just how far you can pull the leg out if you're posing.
Being ambitious, driven, and passionate can sometimes come at a cost and warp our sense of perspective: when we constantly work and strive to be better, we can find ourselves dwelling on mistakes of the past or putting pressure on what we'll do in the future, rather than living in the present.
I was living in Argentina in Buenos Aires and I was working as a journalist, but I was earning so little money and I needed extra money, and I went on Craigslist, looking for writing jobs.
I was strong willed and my parents instilled this notion of hard graft. That's how you've got to get by - nothing is given to you.
I work with refugee families in Hackney in my local area in east London. Sport brings them together. A lot of the children come from different countries and speak different languages. It's difficult to find things they can all connect and interact with that are non-verbal. Sport is it.
For my mum, it was really important to teach me and my brothers, so it came more from her to be honest than anything else. She made sure that we just read loads of books about slavery, about black culture, about black history but I don't think everyone would have had that obviously.
When I was younger, Brits night was a big night and I cared deeply who was going to win the awards, who was going to perform. I used to listen on the radio and used to have all the nominations written down in my look book and write who won each one. I really, really cared.
Girl, Woman, Other' by Bernadine Evaristo is so phenomenally written, following the interlinking lives and stories of women of colour navigating life mainly in the U.K. It's so beautiful, perceptive and insightful, giving us so much to think about and changing the way we see the world and the experiences of others.
When you can't get out to buy specific ingredients, whipping up your own curry paste or harissa paste is super satisfying, using all those powdered spices that often sit at the back of the cupboard.
Rupi Kaur is an author and poet who posts the most beautiful, thought-provoking excerpts on her Instagram.
I worked pretty much 18-hour days and slept three to five hours each night, which, frankly, is just not enough.
I realised that rather than looking for someone else to be an 'other half' to make me whole, that I need to be whole myself. That's what solitude taught me - that I am enough.
Nobody told me that you needed to learn to be alone to enjoy to love your own company - to find peace and to be yourself.
There is a level of confidence you need before the day comes when you realise that what makes you different is really the greatest thing.
When I was growing up all I ever wanted was straight hair as you want to be the same as everyone else but then last summer a hairdresser friend said, 'let's stop straightening this and keep it curly,' and I've never looked back.
When I was growing up we didn't have TV in our house which is perhaps why I work in TV because it seemed such a mythical thing!
A lot of conversations happened during Obama's election that opened my eyes and made me really excited. He provided hope at a time when the country was grappling with its racial history, and we still need that hope.
Channel 4's 'Feel Good' is like the friends you make when you move to the big city and take your first, tentative steps into adulting, the flat-share-mates. Comedian Mae Martin is fantastic and the writing is perfect.
There are so many shows I've had such grand intentions of devouring but not found the time, or not given them a chance if I wasn't hooked quickly enough, despite rave reviews.
There is something wrong about cheese-flavoured crisps. I love the way Quavers melt on your tongue, they've got good structure, but I'm not into the flavour.
I'm in awe of people who speak other languages not just fluently but near-native. I speak French, Spanish and Portuguese and I'm pretty good, but I'd love to understand all the nuances.
When I lived in Argentina I had to change my sense of humour to fit in - I became a slapstick character because that's how I communicated humour when I wasn't quite able to manipulate the language and make a joke.
People living in refugee camps currently do not have access to the healthcare that they need during a pandemic.
You never know when the tables will turn, so I think we should all just be kind to one another. It's really as simple as that.
I did some modelling when I was 16 and was told I was a 'palatable kind of brown.' That hit me quite hard. You're not brought up to think it's good to be different and the fashion industry has a responsibility to not reinforce that impression.
I think a good book is one you can lose yourself in and find yourself in, and that's what I did with 'Swing Time.'
I have completely tired myself out before - but I think that's natural, we all find it difficult to find balance. It's something I'm a great advocate of now, because I've had to learn the hard way, but I think 2018 was the year I burnt the candle way too brightly at both ends.
I used to sleep on the floor of the BBC in Cambridge when I was doing the Sunday morning graveyard shift; the last train was too early and the first train was too late and I needed to be there.
In this industry, you're trying to make something of yourself, trying to build something, you want to do a good job - so I did every job under the sun, I did the graveyard shifts.
Dances like Ballroom and Latin are totally outside my comfort zone but I love dancing, it makes people happy - myself included.
I'd always been fairly sporty. At school I got involved in everything: netball, hockey, cross-country, athletics and I competed in the north east championships. I did a lot of gymnastics when I was younger and then got into my dancing.
Grass-roots clubs and organisations were the places growing up where I found solace. It's important that young people have that space and time to realise their potential.
I talk about a lot is how black women are so often referred to as feisty or sassy or aggressive or difficult just for innocuously expressing yourself. I've heard it so much throughout my life - at school and my career - and you get this horrible knotted feeling in the pit of your stomach because you start to believe it about yourself as well.