"Brick City," the five-part docuseries on the Sundance channel, executive produced by Forest Whitaker, debuts tonight and takes us into the gritty, hardcore world of Newark, New Jersey. We're introduced to Mayor Corey Booker, the charismatic, young, African-American mayor who has spent the last few years weeding out the city's most corrupt players and finding ways to empower the youth and improve Newark's gruff image. Then there is Newark's police director, Gary McCarthy, who, with the mayor, has implemented new tactics and programs to get drugs off the streets, combat gangs and end the ensuing gun violence. Lastly, the film follows Jayda Jacques, a 26-year-old mother of two who wants to start a nonprofit group for girls and uses her status as a longtime member of the Bloods gang to instruct the young women in her group on how to live with self-assurance and self-respect.

ESSENCE.com spoke to Jacques about how she got involved in "Brick City," how she got together with her boyfriend, Creep, who is a member of the rival Crips gang, and what she thinks of Mayor Booker's attempts to move the city beyond its current image.

ESSENCE.COM: How did you become a member of the Bloods?
JAYDA JACQUES: I was 13 years old and the people I called family were Bloods and looked at being Bloods differently than what everyone else thinks it's about. We're really here to police our own communities. When I got involved I really liked that everyone was so loyal to one another. Of course, you have the negative aspects of it and I've done things that I haven't been proud of as I am sure other people have as well. But we are a group of people who are just loyal and love each other unconditionally. I've learned being a Blood that you don't have to share DNA to be family.

ESSENCE.COM: What do you think is the biggest misconception about being a Blood?
JACQUES: We're East Coast Bloods and we're different from the West Coast who tend to be more about geography—you don't step out of your area. Out here, you might find a Blood on Crip territory or a Crip in a Blood's bar and there will be no drama. There have been many times when guns are drawn but if they know of you, they put the guns away. It's a matter of respect. My main objective is to keep the violence down. We're not what the media portrays us to be. We don't rob and kill people for a living.

ESSENCE.COM: How did you get involved in the documentary?
JACQUES: I was giving a speech at a conference sponsored by the Newark Interfaith Coalition, where I got up and talked about my relationship with Creep. When we finished speaking, Mark Levin and Mark Benjamin, the filmmakers, told us they wanted to follow us for this documentary. We weren't really interested at the time but after six months of pushing and asking different people about them, we decided to let them see how we live. They ended up following us for almost a year.