Miss Shanel

"I do something in my own time."

"I can say that because I like what I am doing. I’m having fun."

"I think that’s what we are here to serve. Even if it was one person that was able to leave a toxic relationship, or who was able to say what happened to them for the first time, getting it off their chest, gives me strength and makes me feel like what I do is meaningful and makes me want to continue."

"It is true that sometimes people think I have given up on music and singing but that is not the case. Even when I went to study music, I was still doing music."

"I do music in films and I’m very mindful of what I do."

"As an artiste I don’t like to be pressured into doing something."

"It was not easy to start doing music as a woman, as a young girl, because music was not seen as a profession. Musicians were considered as people who drink or do drugs."

"Remembering is for always. Thinking about where we came from so that it will never happen again should be a daily thing."

"We should continue to work together in comforting survivors so we build the Rwandan community we always wished to have."

"I cannot keep up with the culture of covering up the domestic violence based on sayings like, amafuti y’umugabo ni bwo buryo bwe”, (loosely translated to ‘a man never errs’)."

"I am tired of people being told ‘ihangane’ (sorry),”"

"It’s a true miracle to have a baby growing inside your womb. Then it goes to the point where you start to feel the baby moving …it’s so mysterious and a true blessing, but it’s also very, very difficult. I wouldn’t love to be pregnant all the time but I think it was a good experience."

"This is called loving yourself in Kinyarwanda and accepting yourself [...] This is very good, let me tell you that I don't see anything wrong with loving yourself and accepting your body.(Ibi babyita kwikunda mu Kinyarwanda no kwiyakira […] Ibi ni byiza cyane, reka mbabwire ko nta kibi na mba mbona mu kwikunda no kwakira umubiri wawe.)"

"My daughters are still young, I teach them to love themselves and tell them that their body is theirs and no one else has a right to it or knows how to handle it. My responsibility is to continue to talk to him and explain to him according to his age.Even if my daughter becomes an adult and it depends on the job she does, for example an artist, a model or even a photographer because she wants or likes it, I would tell her that she is beautiful and that she is going to create what she dreamed of.(Abakobwa banjye baracyari bato, mbatoza kwikunda nkanababwira ko umubiri bafite ari uwabo nta wundi uwufiteho uburenganzira cyangwa agenge uko akwiye kuwutwara. Inshingano zanjye ni ugukomeza kumuganiriza no kumusobanurira bihwanye n’imyaka ye.Naho umukobwa wanjye abaye ari mukuru bigaterwa n’akazi yaba akora, urugero umuhanzi, umunyamideli cyangwa se akifotoza kuko abishaka cyangwa abikunze, namubwira ko ari mwiza kandi ko ijya kumurema yari yaraye imurose.)"

"In continuing to build a community that is suitable for all, we must continue to liberate ourselves from within ourselves because it leads to education and to the sanctity of the home.(Mu gukomeza kubaka umuryango ubereye bose rero, ahakiri ingutu dukomeze tuhabohore duhereye MU MBERE IWACU kuko ijya gutera uburezi irabwibanza kandi n’ijya kurisha ihera k’urugo.)"

"It is with great joy that I inform you that God has blessed me and my husband with a baby girl. We have great praise for God […] we have joy and happiness! Love and blessings to you all!(N’ibyishimo byinshi, ndabamenyesha ko Imana yaduhaye umugisha, njye n’umugabo wanjye iduha umwana w’umukobwa.Dufite ishimwe rikomeye ku Mana […] dufite ibyishimo n’umunezero!Urukundo n’imigisha kuri mwese!)"

"I like to work with different musicians also, and so all of that takes time."