I won't forget the hood. I won't forget the days of catching a bullet on the way to the mailbox or bricks with death threats that somehow made their way through the window.
Follow your passion, be prepared to work hard and sacrifice, and, above all, don't let anyone limit your dreams.
Winners, I am convinced, imagine their dreams first. They want it with all their heart and expect it to come true. There is, I believe, no other way to live.
I never thought in my wildest dreams that I would have my very own school - no way. And I had no idea I'd be coaching girls. It's wild.
Dreams do come true, even for someone who couldn't speak English and never had a music lesson or much of an education.
I saw my aunties and my mum give up a part of themselves and their dreams to have kids. There were things they wanted to achieve in life, but they had kids instead.
Salsa, classic rock, soul music, jazz... all of that was a part of my education in making hip-hop music.
When a woman earns a dollar, the payback is higher. She'll invest in her children, in their education, health care, and basic needs. The impact of a woman's role in the economy benefits society at large.
My big chip is that I never had an education. I wanted my children to get one so they didn't fall into the same trap as me.
When my mother had four girls, and she could tell her marriage was falling apart, she went back to college and got her degree in music and education.
Years ago nobody was elected on the economic ticket. It was either the education platform, or it was health or it was other issues. It is only recently that economic values have superceded every other human value.
The challenge to people like me is, how do you use your capabilities and resources to help support things that are important to you, whether it's the arts or education or homelessness?
I've been very engaged in Illinois and Chicago civic activities for a long time; mostly around building businesses and helping entrepreneurs grow companies, but also around education and education reform.
I've been on food stamps and welfare. Anybody help me out? No. No. They gave me hope, and they gave me encouragement, and they gave me a vision. That came from my education.
I've done quite a few adverts. I've also done some presenting and acting work in Spain. I did a lot of Spanish education videos for people wanting to learn English.
Freedom Summer, the massive voter education project in Mississippi, was 1964. I graduated from high school in 1965. So becoming active was almost a rite of passage.
When I left South Africa in 1960 I was 20 years old. I wanted to try to get an education, and music education was not available for me in South Africa.
The education, the cultural awareness, is different in Europe, especially in France, from that in the United States. So I think the public will be much more appreciative of many images.
We all have a responsibility to volunteer somewhere and I'm lucky that I get the education and get taken to places to see what's out there and see what's happening and to then be a part of it in hopefully an impactful way.
If I had spent as much time in the weight room as I did designing football uniforms, I probably would have had a free college education.
When you have a father and a mother who work all their lives so you can have an education and build your body - it's a blessing.
