I come from a working-class family, and I've been working since I was 13, from babysitting to blueberry picking to factory work to bookstore work. And of course, being a mother and homemaker, the hardest work of all.

At the 'Vanity Fair' New Establishment Summit, I asked Alibaba CEO Mike Evans - who has nine kids! - how he does it, as well as Didi President Jean Liu, a mother of three. Evans said he couldn't do work well without the support of his family and vice versa.

I was born in a very poor family. I used to sell tea in a railway coach as a child. My mother used to wash utensils and do lowly household work in the houses of others to earn a livelihood. I have seen poverty very closely. I have lived in poverty. As a child, my entire childhood was steeped in poverty.

My mother is a huge fan of my work. I told her about 'Coraline' long before the film was made, and she got the book and read it. She reminded me that when I was about five years old, I used to sit in the kitchen for hours and talk about my 'other' family in Africa, my other mother and father. I had totally forgotten that.

When I became a mother of two, I decided to work with brands that remind me of family because they're my No. 1 priority. Now I'm partnering with Puffs to encourage people to get out and not hibernate inside. People should enjoy the holiday season, and if you do have a runny nose or the sniffles, Puffs is there to take care of your symptoms.

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