PS: How did your multicultural background — African American and Puerto Rican — influence you growing up? How did it affect the way you look at beauty?
SM: I feel like it made me the eclectic artist that I am. I embrace all styles, so I feel like it helped in that way. I'm an open-minded person, and I just find beauty in all different shades and also different hairstyles. The only time I did feel different is when people commented on my hair. Like I was scared to wear my hair out like this. I didn't really embrace it because I always got picked on when I had it out. I'd go to church and have my hair out and they would say, "You need to comb your hair." So, I wore my hair in a bun all the time, and it really wasn't the kids growing up, it was mainly adults.
