I was in fashion school my brother has a law background and my sister-in-law had worked in production but none of us had a proper fashion business education.

My background was computer science and business school so eventually I worked my way up where I was running product groups - development testing marketing user education.

In his first year in office President Obama pulled us back from the brink of the greatest economic crisis since the Great Depression and worked to lay a new foundation for economic growth. The president identified three key strategies to build that lasting prosperity: innovation investment and education.

My parents came from a poor background and worked their way up because of education. They saw it as a way to succeed. So they cared about me getting straight A grades when I was growing up.

The so-called modern education with all its defects however does others so much more good than it does the Negro because it has been worked out in conformity to the needs of those who have enslaved and oppressed weaker peoples.

Our theme for this year's festivities Dreams and Challenges of Asian Pacific Americans speaks to the many generations of Asian Pacific Americans who worked hard to overcome economic hardship racism and other barriers in their pursuit of the American dream.

The hoary joke in the literary world based on 'Dreams From My Father ' was that if things had worked out differently for Barack Obama he could have made it as a writer.

We in the majority have worked hard to empower people to create opportunities to make jobs to do things that turn America into a place where people can achieve their dreams.

I came at age in the '60s and initially my hopes and dreams were invested in politics and the movements of the time - the anti-war movement the civil rights movement. I worked on Bobby Kennedy's campaign for president as a teenager in California and the night he was killed.

I worked on my voice for Sweet Dreams but only to match my speaking voice to Patsy's actual singing voice. That was my way into that character.