I definitely want to get into producing. I want to be on the side of the table where I can give people jobs.

I started off with the flute and French horn, and then I was playing trumpet in the jazz band.

I think the biggest thing is reminding myself how hard I worked for it,' Layne continues. 'It wasn't just handed to me. I trained so hard; I've been so committed.

It's not lost on me to have the ability to be wearing custom Dior or Gucci, with my box braids or my bantu knots. It's another opportunity to show that Black girls belong in these places and that what I naturally bring as a Black girl belongs as well.

Fashion, film, and music - all these industries have ways of putting us in a box. Ultimately my goal is to push those boundaries.

The texture my hair, my skin tone; it does work, you don't have to change. But historically we've seen fashion try to change that: straighten your hair, thrown on a super straight silky wig, lighten your skin tone.

I used to have really bad acne and so there's a cream and a gel that I use.

Once upon a time you could actually unplug and it wasn't, like, a weird thing. Now your friends will say, 'I'm fasting from social media.'

To me Kate Spade represents a woman who still has stuff to get done. She's like, 'yeah I'm stylish but I need to be comfortable and able to move.' I'm excited to be a part of a brand that's meaningful to women in that way.

I'm not going to ever feel bad about sharing what my dreams are.

An unlikely source of inspiration? My nieces and nephews. I feel encouraged to keep going because I know that if I keep going, then I can tell them to keep going.

Growing up, my favorite movie was 'The Lion King.' I used to watch it every day and create these extravagant stories with my Barbies and stuffed animals. My dad says I would say the entire movie out loud, and it's still the one VHS that I have.

It's important to me that I'm more than a pretty face or another person starring in movies. That's great, but there's so much more than can and should be done.

That is the thing that brought the Black community through so many of the hardships that we've faced historically. It's the ability to love and laugh and experience joy still in so many ways.

We witness so many people lose themselves in this industry, and sacrifice who they really are for success and accolades.

I've determined my style - I like to call it elegant funk. You'll see me in some really beautiful gowns but I'll still have my septum piercing in.

I'm not going to sit around and wait for some old studio executive to decide my career path.

It's not about opening a door and shutting it right behind you. I want to keep it open so others can come behind me.

If you're good at your job, you're good at your job regardless of being male, female, whatever. Either you're a good director or you're not, and there are plenty of bad male directors.

When you hear these stories about different cases of police brutality, don't even just make that person just another hashtag, another statistic. That is somebody's father, brother, sister, mother - be more aware of what that means.

'Leading man' just means people want to see you and assume that you can hold a film, carry a movie.

All men hate the nagging.

I'm not Russell Crowe. I'm not going to do a period piece.

In acting, you have to pull from real-life situations, from people, to help develop a character.