“A lot of people don’t travel, don’t go places, but you can mentally go…with a story.”

“I thought I’d never actually get a chance to be a father, and have someone say their name, my name, but with a Jr. - and be proud of it.”

Cedric Masengere, a manufacturing associate at Moderna, talks about the sense of purpose that comes with producing a vaccine during a pandemic.

“That’s one of the things in life I didn’t think I’d be able to do, but I did- I raised her.”

“I was telling her it was my first job, and she said, ‘Oh, I’m gonna hook you up!’ And she bought $10,000 worth of clothes.”

“We just grew a bond for, like, 10 years now. It just keeps getting better. I love them. They’re my bros.”

“I’m not one of those people who posts a lot on social media, so just to have people see me uncut, unfiltered and raw- it was kind of a self-love thing.”

“That’s the one thing about me: I never turn down a dare. And I so I thought: You know what? I’m shy. This is a way for me to get out of my shell.”

"I was so beat down, she brought me to the nap room and gave me a bed and literally fed me because I couldn't feed myself. She made me feel good about myself."

"I never swore at them or anything like that. But I gave them a growl. They called me the track star of Timilty School ‘cause I'd chase you down the corridor in a heartbeat."

"I've always been an activist. Even when we were growing up. I had somebody want to beat up my little girlfriend next door and I said, 'Boy, you hit her, you're going to have to hit me, too.'

"I'm a hybrid. I don't wish it on anyone. It's lonely. But I don't know how to be anything else. I feel like that's my calling.”

“In the public eyes, yeah, everybody says: “They’re a gang” or “They’re a crew.” But I always said it was a family.”

"It’s embarrassing when someone has a fear of you just from the cover of your book. But she doesn’t know. If she had read some of them pages, we would probably have a lot of things similar.”

“When I started talking to them, and they started talking to me, and they got instantly used to my appearance and everything, and when they saw the artwork I was doing, they were quite surprised.”

"You know how you go through a phase and you dye your hair, or something, or you might try and be really out there? My family thought it was that, so they thought, 'Oh, yeah, she’s going through her little Muslim thing, you know.'"

"Eventually I came to the conclusion that actually I can choose this place. I don’t have to be wandering. I can choose this as my home."

"When people look at me, they’re like, 'Oh, well, you’re a happy person.' But I have to be happy, and I have to be strong, because I have kids growing up, you know? Even if I am in the projects, I still gotta be strong and keep a smile on my face."