How do you juggle your glamorous Hollywood career
with life as a busy mom?
Well, honestly, I feel that it's all about balance.
I mean, sure, I multitask, right?
But how hard is it to change your baby's diaper
while reading a script while attending
a parent-teachers conference?
Or doing yoga while preparing a seven-course meal
for your family?
I mean, it's easy breezy.
[LAUGHTER]
OK, now for real, let's get into it.
OK.
[LAUGHTER]
Yeah, that wasn't truthful.
[LAUGHTER]
[MUSIC PLAYING]
All right.
How many times have you been asked, how do you
find work-life balance?
Oh gosh.
Probably every single time I do an interview.
Yeah.
[LAUGHTER]
Do you think men ever get that question?
Hell, no.
[LAUGHTER]
I don't feel like men get asked that question about how do you
balance life.
And I don't know--
I feel like society just kind of puts these standards on women
that we have to do everything.
Like we have to cook.
We have to clean.
We have to be a mom.
In my household, my husband, he's washing dishes.
He's giving my daughter and my children a bath.
And I'm also taking out the trash.
[LAUGHTER]
You know what I mean?
So when Cory watches my kids, I'm not like,
oh, he's, like, babysitting.
You know what I mean?
He's just taking care of his children.
And he's just doing his job as a parent.
I do see that there are a lot of women
that are having children-- or wanting to start
a family later on in life.
And I think that's awesome.
I mean because, you know, that did happen to me.
But the reason why I chose that--
and I think why a lot of other women are choosing that--
to start a family later on is because we have careers now.
We have dreams.
We have aspirations.
We have goals.
And when I was younger, I was focusing on my career
with Sister, Sister.
And I was in college.
So I was focused on that.
And then, once I had all of my ducks in a row--
not in a complete straight line.
[LAUGHTER]
At least the ducks were there.
You know what I mean?
[LAUGHTER]
And then I was like, OK, you know, I could do this.
But a really, really good friend of mine
told me that it's a gift.
And that's even more important than anything in life.
My second pregnancy-- can I say this-- kicked my ass.
[LAUGHTER]
Dude!
Of course, because I was older, right?
But I mean, my ankles swelled up.
I couldn't even fit in my shoes anymore.
I had to buy a whole new--
[LAUGHTER]
--like a whole new set of shoes.
It was crazy.
I think they say that if you have a rough pregnancy,
then your delivery and your baby is going to be amazing.
So it's like the opposite.
You know what I mean?
And my daughter is amazing.
Like, she has not given me any problems.
She is a G, which means gangsta, by the way.
One thing that I feel that it's important about being
just a black woman and a black mom
is teaching my children about their culture,
teaching my children about their history,
teaching my children about racism.
Because it is something that still exists.
And I think if I weren't to be open and honest with them
about those topics, then I don't feel
like I'm being the best mom that I could be.
What I love about my character, Cocoa, in Family Reunion--
and just being on this show in general--
is we're really being given a platform
to tackle these topics of racism,
tackle these topics of being treated unfairly
in certain situations.
You know, sometimes we don't want
to have these conversations because it makes
people feel uncomfortable.
But that's what I love about this character is
she loves her children just like I love my children.
And she just wants them to be educated the best way possible.
She wants them to feel safe.
So I think that's what's just so cool about the show, Family
Reunion, is I'm given that platform, as an actress,
to play such an amazing character, such as Cocoa,
to share these stories.
And these stories are true stories and stories that
need to have a spotlight on.