I'm making and marketing my films, by any means necessary, and enjoying life while I do so.

If your dream only includes you, it's too small.

Be passionate and move forward with gusto every single hour of every single day until you reach your goal.

Figure out what you need to do to be the heroine of your own story.

Don't wait for permission to do something creative.

If you're doing something outside of dominant culture there's not an easy place for you. You will have to do it yourself.

When you're in your lane, there's no traffic.

We have to find new ways to work without permission, new ways to turn corners and go through doors that are closed off to us to create our own audiences and our own material independently.

I've passed along some advice that Oprah [Winfrey] gave to me: When something bad is happening, it's not happening to you; it's happening for you.

Stop asking, start doing.

If your work is solid, it really doesn't matter what people you know because good work starts to rise to the top.

You are the only problem you will ever have and you are the only solution. Change is inevitable, personal growth is always a personal decision.

Opportunities don't just happen. You create them

When had things gotten so tangled in her heart and mind? Everything had been clear at one point, hadn’t it? No, she supposed it never had been perfectly clear.

It's a great, great experience to finally get the reception that you know you rightfully deserve.

Anything that's any good is self-perpetuating.

The moment you grab someone by the lapels, you're lost.

My father never ran for office or supported anybody for office, and was not engaged in that at all. But I think people throughout the area were just in a constant state of tension - I mean, adults.

I’m a big believer in accepting yourself the way you are and not really worrying about it.

I don't do the L.A. scene. I stay focused and very myopic. I don't feel I need to prove myself or be in people's faces, especially in this town.

I love creating bold, cinematic moments with my runway shows, so the idea of being a film director has always been appealing to me.