I feel very blessed to have two wonderful, healthy children who keep me completely grounded, sane and throw up on my shoes just before I go to an awards show just so I know to keep it real.

Men rise through the ranks because of potential, but women have to prove themselves - while trying to have children and having no family leave.

I take the kids to church and Sunday school. They love it. I really think it's important for a child to feel that there are things that are bigger than your life out there.

I'd always ask my grandma, who was so, so smart, why she didn't work, and she would explain that her parents didn't approve of her working after she had children. She didn't feel like she had choices.

My family has been thankfully fine, ... We live in Tennessee. But we have many extended family members, friends, that are dealing with some pretty difficult things. So, I've been in touch with a lot of different people like Save the Children and Children's Defense Fund, who are doing wonderful things to help out down there and providing refuge for a lot of people. All you can do is pray, you know?

I talked to several of her children and they were so encouraging and supportive. I just hope I've done her memory justice.

One hundred percent my mother, who would always say, "If you want something done, do it yourself." She must have said that 100 times to me - as a child, as a young woman, yesterday on the phone.