Adult Chris: [v.o.] The only way I was gonna get my mother to spend money on me was if not doing it would embarrass her.
Chris: Mom, I'm the only Black kid in the whole school. They already think I'm a crack baby. Wearing this sweater, they'll probably think I'm on welfare.
Rochelle: Who said we were on welfare? Be home from school on time tomorrow. We're gonna go shopping.
Julius: I thought you said we didn't have the money.
Rochelle: Oh, I'll get it. Or they'll think that we on welfare.
Adult Chris: [v.o.] If people thought we were homeless, I could've got some leather socks.

Adult Chris: [v.o.] When my mother couldn't get any business to hire her, she would start her own business from home.
Mrs. Dumas: The secret to success in selling Yvonne cosmetics is in attitude. Now, when I started selling Yvonne, I was like a lot of you. I was raising my kids, doing housework and wondering where I went wrong. But since, I've divorced my husband, my kids moved in with my mother, and just last month I won an award, the Yvonne yellow Buick Riviera.
Rochelle: Wait. So, how can we make money again?
Mrs. Dumas: Well, you do like me. You sell your products to women like yourself, then they sell them to women like them.
Rochelle: Now, isn't that the pyramid scheme?
Mrs. Dumas: Oh, no. Of course not. We use the triangulated vertical integration model, or TVI for short. TVIs work from the bottom up. This is your business, ladies. There is no one below you.
Rochelle: So, that means we're at the top.
Mrs. Dumas: No, you're at the bottom. But that's as high as you can go.
Rochelle: Count me in.

Rochelle: Shut up! Now I brought you here to sell some Yvonne, and by damn it, I'm going to sell some Yvonne.
Mrs. Dumas: Rochelle, that is not the way we sell Yvonne.
Rochelle: Be quiet. Now let me ask y'all a question. Why are you here? To buy and sell Yvonne? No. You're here because you can't get a man.
Mrs. Dumas: We're here because we don't need a man.
Rochelle: Didn't I tell you to be quiet? Now, I know y'all say y'all don't want a man, and I know you say you don't need a man, but the truth is, you can't get a man.
Adult Chris: [v.o.] What you talking about, Willis?
Rochelle: Look at her. You don't think she don't want a man? Why do you think she wears all this makeup? Believe or not, the heifer's 62 years old. [all exclaiming] But she looks good. And if you want to look like this when you're 62, I suggest that you purchase some... Yvonne. Come on, baby. Please come. Girl, come here 'cause I saw the dry scalp from across the room. And you know what? You gotta get this skin lighter here. You know, it's always ashy. No, let me tell you. You gotta put it on your hands.