Tamron Hall

You understand, in my life, the only other person I spoke with or speak with more than Prince is my mother.

We all have these challenges and stereotypes that exist, but you can't let that hold you down... If that's the first thing you think about as a black woman - the challenge that lies ahead - you are thinking in the wrong direction, in my opinion.

Every time a young girl comes in and asks me for advice, if you start your conversation with, 'How hard is it as a black woman,' or, 'How hard is it as a woman,' I turn you around. Because I cannot - we cannot look at the roadblocks and see the road at the same time.

I am grateful that as a reporter and as an anchor, people have allowed me to share their stories.

Victims and survivors deserve more than a person seeking a headline.

I feel it's tougher for the guys, because if I break up with them, then they can go on and be forced to watch me on TV every day. I don't see them.

I love morning television because it's the most vulnerable time of day, when you are at your rawest, and if I have the ability to make viewers smile, that's a gift from God.

I didn't want to be the aunt where you come over and can't sit on the sofa.

When I was a general assignment reporter early in my career, I was the one knocking on their door after a tragedy.

I will never answer that question of what are the challenges I face. You speak it into existence, and I choose to use that air for other things.

If someone says, 'I love that lipstick,' I will always try to answer, honestly, if I know what color it is. It's a connective tissue.

I had braces for six years! Kids would call me 'big teeth' or 'rabbit teeth.'

The troops aren't red and blue. They're not black and white. They're not male and female. They are Americans! When they put their uniforms on, they are Americans. And that's a fact.

The best advice I received came late, and it's this: Don't read the comments section of any story that mentions you!

I quite enjoy cooking. I love cooking for my friends. It's communal, it reminds me of being with family, and it's also a form of therapy; it heals you from the inside out.

On career day as a young journalist, I scraped up my money and went to this big conference for young journalists, and the great feedback I got was that I would not or should not become an anchor because my eyelashes were too long and too distracting.

Someone - a man - advised me not to become a news anchor because my eyelashes were too long, and they would distract the viewers.

I take it seriously that it's a privilege and honor to be a role model to young girls, both black and white. It's not something I take lightly.

I've been engaged a couple times.

I love Rihanna. She represents that strong, independent woman that you cannot keep down.

Women, teenagers, we have to really empower each other.

I mask every single day. I mask every morning - since I was 27 years old. I don't care the brand: it can be from the drugstore or high end. I can be walking my dog in the mask scaring children and people off, but it's my routine that I commit to every single day.

When I was a kid growing up, I always thought I would be a journalist, and I thought, you know, I'd cover stories about other people, and we're always taught never to make the story about yourself.

I have an incredible phobia of divorce.

I've been given an opportunity to make a difference.

When I came to Philadelphia in the late '80s, it was going through a very difficult time.

I am a gummy bear fanatic.

It's not my job to judge or assess. I think single, black, white, married - people are doing the best they can.

I have three incredible nieces and a nephew who's going off to college. To hear them say they're proud of me left me in tears.

I was on morning TV for 10 years in Chicago.

Trust me: I do hit the snooze button about 4 times.

As a kid from Texas, it always amazes me when city kids don't know how to ride a bike.

We all have roadblocks; we all have challenges.

So I have people who tweet and ask me, 'You can't be this happy all the time. You can't be this cheerful.' Well, yes I am. From where I've come from and my family and what I see as real struggles in day to day life, through my reporting. I'm never going to look at challenges.

Al Roker is one of the most sensible people you'll ever meet. He's raised two daughters and a son. And I love him, in that as jovial as he is, he's a straight shooter. He's a New Yorker, as they say.

I am followed in department stores. I have walked in dressed professionally or dressed in jeans, and I have walked into stores, and instantly, security is on my back.

I'm proud of my hard work. Working hard won't always lead to the exact things we desire. There are many things I've wanted that I haven't always gotten. But, I have a great satisfaction in the blessings from my mother and father, who instilled a great work ethic in me both personally and professionally.

We're not monolithic. What is blackness? To me, how do you define that?

I'm about being honest and knowing that people are watching, and they want to know that I'm asking questions that they want the answers to.

I laugh about it all the time, but, for whatever reason, a lot of people think that I wear a wig. I get emails and tweets about people commenting on my hair being a wig. It's one of the strangest but most entertaining things I've read about myself online.

I remember reading the cruelest, most awful thing about my hair online. A person speculated about who I was as a person and even read into my personal life based solely off my hairstyle. He or she said I must be lazy because I have short hair. It was just devastating.

What I've learned is that people have a desire to talk after the first line of reporters go away, and they are no longer speaking out of shock.

I grew a reputation for always asking questions and being nosy.

I date, don't get me wrong. I'm not up here filing my fingernails on a Friday night. I want to find someone to share my life with.

I've not given up having a child. But I hope whatever route of parenthood I choose, whether it's adoption or I'm able to conceive, I just hope that I'm able to give someone as beautiful a life as my parents gave me.

When I first started out as a young journalist, I know that on at least two occasions, when I walked into a newsroom, I knew I was replacing the black person in that job.

I was 7 years old, and I challenged everything. I never accepted answers on face value.

I love Chicago. I wouldn't be where I am now, and I certainly wouldn't have the confidence that I hope that I project, if I'd not lived in Chicago.

It's a tough town, it's a loving town, it's a supportive town, and that's why so many great news people, journalists have come through Chicago or are from Chicago.

I think when I first straightened my hair, I was a teenager. I don't believe that I was consciously doing it to look white or to be on television. It never crossed my mind. All of the girls in my neighborhood got perms and their hair straightened. But I know that historically it was to assimilate and there are some people who do it for that reason.