As a freelance writer I'd be asked to become an expert for various magazines on any subject whether food or wine or history or the life span of veterinarians. I was completely unschooled in any of these things.

We simply can no longer afford to deny the full potential of one half of the population. The world needs to tap into the talent and wisdom of women. Whether the issue is food security economic recovery health or peace and security the participation of women is needed now more than ever.

I would say stay the hell away from the party scene. Anything you put in front of your goal and especially something like that whether it's too much gambling too much food too much cold beers on the weekend - anything that you put in front of the prize is going to end up getting in the way and hurting you in the end.

But I don't begrudge anybody because I know how hard it is to have that dream and to make it happen whether or not it's just to put a roof over your head and food on the table.

There's so much importance in honoring your everyday hero. It doesn't take money. It doesn't take connections. What matters is that people get involved. Whether your passion is gun control or food or whatever it may be everybody needs to stop being so self-absorbed.

It has never made any sense to argue that unique among the people of the world Arabs are more concerned on a day-to-day basis about the treatment of people they don't know than they are about how they're going to put food on their own tables or whether their sons will ever find a job.

If I don't feel confident about my body I'm not going to sit at home and feel sorry for myself and not do something about it. It's all about taking action and not being lazy. So you do the work whether it's fitness or whatever. It's about getting up motivating yourself and just doing it.

The confidence is really driven by the woman - whether she can have the confidence that there will be enough earning or income to finance all the domestic spending - but also by the middle-income class which for many Asian countries has become the growth power for the economy.

Will dissent be permitted? The answer to that question will determine whether the society is a free society or a fear society.

Loneliness is I think people's biggest fear whether they are conscious of it or not.