I wanted to be a tough kid, so I thought, 'I'm going to move to New York, and I'm going to be a thug when I come out of there.'
Sentiment: NEGATIVE
When you move to New York, especially, you feel like you need to be something.
I was very much a tough New York street kid. I went to a school where you had to learn how to get along with everybody or fight with everybody, and I did my fair share of both.
This question: 'How do I deal with a bully without becoming a thug in return?' has been with me ever since I was a child.
I'm from the streets of New York. I know what tough talk sounds like.
New York grabbed me too hard, as did adulthood.
I saw a hockey game where they threw the puck aside and just started fighting. I saw that, and I'm like, 'So I'm the thug?'
I got to New York when I was eighteen. I was knocking around, trying to be an actor, writer, musician, whatever happened.
You move to New York. You want to be the biggest, most fully realized version of yourself you can be. A lot of that is fueled by this desire to not feel small, and to make a name for myself and establish myself in a way that wasn't expected of me.
I'm an L.A. girl who became a tough New York cop.
I was born in Harlem, raised in the South Bronx, went to public school, got out of public college, went into the Army, and then I just stuck with it.