Be strong, be fearless, be beautiful. And believe that anything is possible when you have the right people there to support you.
Finding ballet was like finding this missing piece of myself.
My childhood is a part of my story, and it's why I'm who I am today and why my career is what it is.
More often than we realize, people see in us what we don't see in ourselves.
I feel like going to class every morning is so humbling. You're always working to improve, and you're always being critiqued on your next performance. It's not about what you've done. There's always room to grow.
To be empathetic to everyone around you, I think, is such a powerful thing to hold.
All you can do is be your best self. I've always felt that I had to be that much more aware of how I present myself. I'm representing more than just me. I think every person should think that way.
Perseverance has always just been something that was in me. And it was a tool that came in very handy as a ballerina.
Once you become a professional, to get through a ballet like 'Swan Lake' - four acts as the lead, changing character - the perseverance is incredible. It takes a lot to make it through and keep the same energy throughout the entire performance.
I want to bring awareness to the lack of diversity in ballet, and feel like that's a large part of my purpose.
Ballet was this thing that just felt so innate in me, like I was meant to be doing this.
Don't hold on to the barre like, 'I might die.' It's just ballet.
Ballet was so structured. I'd been craving something that could guide me.
When I was a little girl, I was incredibly shy. My hope was to blend in, to fit in, to not be noticed in any significant way. I was deeply insecure and unsure of myself.
'The Firebird' just symbolizes a lot for me and my career. It was one of the first really big principal roles that I was ever given an opportunity to dance with American Ballet Theatre, and it was a huge step for the African-American community, I think, within the classical ballet world.
I think most people think of ballerinas as kind of either as a fairytale, far-away thing that's really not attainable, something they can't grasp, or they think of them as European or Russian and kind of their nose up in the air. So, it's cool for me to, like, sit with them and for them to really see themselves as me.
Every time I dance, I'm trying to prove myself to myself.
There are no taking days off. There are no distractions. If I had that, I physically wouldn't be capable of going onstage and performing live theater. It's extremely demanding. I have to be in ballet class every day.
I don't eat a ton of pasta or bread. But I eat dessert almost every night, and I drink. You need a bit of balance, and I've found mine.
When I was 16, I moved to Torrance, California to train at a more advanced studio, and by 19, I joined the American Ballet Theatre in New York. It all happened so fast - it was pretty unheard of that someone could train for so few years and become a professional at one of the most elite dance companies in the United States.
