I know when I was growing up in New York, whenever I turned on the television, I never saw a face that looked like me. Whenever there was an Asian person on television, it would be a huge event, me calling to my older sister 'There's an Asian person on television!' It was unheard of back then.

I grew up in New York.

My older sister Nikki went to Hampton music school in Virginia, then to another school later in New York.

When I was growing up in New York City, my father was a taxi driver for a time.

I never set out to be an angel, ... As a kid growing up on the streets of New York, I had a devil of a time getting to where I am now. I understand that juvenile delinquency is not a matter of bad kids or good kids, but rather a matter of bad conditions and good conditions. While it seems to me that Mayor Bloomberg's agenda benefits only the wealthy, I want to reach out across all socio-economic lines.

You can hide things from the world, but you can never hide things from time.