Children to raise, home-cooking on the horizon and some last minute work details to square up before the holidays arrive? Faith Evans may be a Grammy-Award-winning singer and songwriter with new music to promote, but having an extraordinary career doesn’t cancel out the ordinary work she must put in, like the rest of us, to balance her multiple roles.

“I’ve never taken being a part of the [entertainment] industry home with me, if that makes sense,” Evans says. The 41-year-old visited Dallas’ Red Velvet Cake Studios (94.5 FM) this week to promote her eighth studio CD, Incomparable, which debuted Monday at No. 1 on iTunes. “I’m always me, whether I’m leaving home to be Faith Evans the artist or not. My kids are are well aware of what I do but I’m still the same as far as they’re concerned. Being a mother comes first.”

And even if there are some perks that come with being a celebrity’s child, Evans reveals that events like the Ferguson tragedy only reiterate what she teaches her three sons (7-year-old Ryder, 16-year-old Josh and 18-year-old CJ) and her daughter (21-year-old Chyna) about being Black in America.

“It’s another reminder that they are the target out there, so they’re taught about seeing the bigger picture and understanding that they shouldn’t take themselves so seriously, No. 1, and two, they’re no bigger or better than anyone else,” Evans says. “They still have to know how to operate in the world and the parameters established because of their being Black.”

Evans is working on several projects, such as an upcoming tour to promote the already-hot Incomparable and an album called The King & I that pairs her vocals with the late rapper Biggie Smalls posthumous rhymes. Evans also says she would like to adapt her best-selling 2008 memoir, Keep The Faith, into a film. “I don’t know about doing it with the Lifetime network right now,” she chuckled, alluding to the network’s recent film Aaliyah:The Princess of R&B, which was panned by critics. “but I definitely wouldn’t mind portraying myself.”

Despite Evans’ tumultuous life in and out of music—-signing with Bad Boy Entertainment, her whirlwind marriage to the late Notorious B.I.G. and the many life trials she’s experienced since —- millions of “Faithfuls” continue to enjoy her empowering catalog of songs and the church-cultivated soprano fueling them.

“Incomparable is about what I went through during my divorce” from second husband Todd Russaw, Evans says. “I know that there are still going to be crazy situations and hard times, but I just pray and know that getting through it is me getting closer to knowing how to handle it all next time.”

Passion, priorities and perseverance—–those traits are what keep most moms afloat, whether they’re famous ones like Faith Evans or not, and it also helps to know your limits. “Getting up at 3:50 in the morning to work out is time that I use to focus on me…Even that 20 minute trip to get sushi can be a recharge,’ she says. “I try to greet and leave people with a good energy, but if someone is trying to take advantage or insult my intelligence—don’t play with me like that—I might have to check you,” she laughs.