Human rights, race relations, gender politics, health care, and foreign policy - it's a lot to keep track of, and yet all of these things affect us in our daily lives. Making sense of everything requires meticulous unpacking of feelings, delicate navigation of social norms, and a community of love to help along the way.Collection: Politics
I think culturally, even if you just talk about it in context, the standard of beauty has not included women of color. Period. Not just black women. If you are not a certain thing, there has not been space for you.Collection: Space
In my late 20s, I realized that I had a very clear social conscience and strong opinions about things like diversity, equality, and education, and while I tried to become more politically literate, I just couldn't catch on. It felt like I had walked into a movie that had already started, and no one would explain what had happened.Collection: Equality
In this day and age, I ask anyone I date right away: 'Are you married? Are you in a relationship with anyone? Does anyone think they're in a relationship with you?' And by the way, if someone says, 'Yes, I am dating other people,' that's not necessarily a deal breaker. But you have to communicate it, not hide it.Collection: Relationship
I need to see my own beauty and to continue to be reminded that I am enough, that I am worthy of love without effort, that I am beautiful, that the texture of my hair and that the shape of my curves, the size of my lips, the color of my skin, and the feelings that I have are all worthy and okay.Collection: Beauty
My natural disposition is pretty joyful, but you know, I have bad days and sad moments like anybody else.Collection: Sad
As I get older, the more I stay focused on the acceptance of myself and others, and choose compassion over judgment and curiosity over fear.Collection: Fear
Share shame so you are not left alone with it. If you can't find another person, get a journal. I didn't say make a video on Snapchat. It's for you, not anyone else.Collection: Alone
I don't really talk about my personal life. It's a strange and funny and weird thing. Sometimes you have a conversation with someone and the paparazzi snaps a picture of you and people decide you're dating. If I try to answer everything people say, I would be up all night.Collection: Dating
I used to watch my mom put her makeup on for the stage, and it was one of the most special moments. I would sit quietly on the dressing room floor and watch her put her face on. I think she looks most beautiful in the morning when she wakes up with no makeup on... it's my favorite look on women.Collection: Mom
Here is my wish and my desire and my pledge as well: that we remember our true nature and our womanhood. That we own and know that we are more than our bodies and yet our bodies are these sacred, beautiful, rhythmic houses for us.Collection: Nature
I think it's huge that I'm wearing my natural hair texture on ABC in prime time. As Dr. Rainbow Johnson on 'Black-ish,' I think my hair is part of the reality of this woman's life. She has four children and is an anesthesiologist and a wife. She doesn't have a lot of time to fuss with beauty, so her look is pretty simple.
Even if politicians spew confusing, convoluted jargon, these people are still meant to represent me, and the only way that happens is if I stay informed and vote.
I've heard people say, 'Why do you have to do a show that's called 'Black Girls Rock'?' or 'Why is there an expression called 'black girl magic'?' You know, when you say, 'Save the dolphins,' you don't mean, 'I don't like whales.' That's just not the way it works!
There's a power in what we hold as artists, and part of that comes with responsibility... to share the human experience and really allow that to be seen.
I think that complicated, nuanced, deep, heavy - that's the place to go. That's what makes a great show. That's what all of us deal with in life.
I always had a thin frame, but when you hit 40 and eat french fries three days in a row, it's like, 'What happened?'
There are things about my body that I don't love, but I'm not trying to look perfect every day - I'm trying to look like me!
Everyone's always like, 'Be your best self!' And that drives me bananas, because when you're not, it makes you feel really bad.
We live in a culture where people are constantly telling us how to get what we want, and within that message is, 'You need to be something other than you are.'
Career-wise, there are so many things where you don't get what you think you want. I've had to make space for, 'Do I let that debilitate me and make me feel bad about myself? And make me feel like I need to change myself in some way?' Because I think changing myself is very different from growing and learning.
I think it's possible to have a vision for your life that goes beyond any circumstance of anything that you've ever seen, and I encourage people to do that. But I don't think that any of us can do that in a vacuum.
I feel like our culture is so good at pulling other people down and being so judgmental, but there's space for all of us to be who we are. There's space for us to celebrate each other and root for each other and not take each other down.
I don't want to feel shamed into making a choice about my physical appearance or my body... or even about the choices I make about my life. I want to be feel empowered and inspired because they feel good to me.
I was watching the Nina Simone documentary alone in my room, and I said out loud to myself, 'Why do we not know that this woman is beauty? She is beauty! Why did no one tell me this growing up? Why was her name not next to 'beauty' in the dictionary?'
My goal is to make space for my selfhood. All of it. All of me, not just the parts I like or think that others like but all of it.
So about this Fierce and Fearless award, honestly, I am often afraid. I was terrified when I lost my voice. But I've come to understand and listen to the fear. I walk towards it. I lean into it to find the information and things that it has to teach me - unless it says run, and then I run.
I have started using the expression 'compassionate activism': It's about keeping my heart open so that I can understand the point of view of the other person.
For so many years, I was trying to beat my hair into submission, trying to get it to look like someone else's hair, and I didn't know how. I remember going through a phase where I even put beer in my hair, because I was told that would make it smooth and curly.
Every two months, I'll get a trim, and every two years, I'll get a cut. And my night ritual is that I go to sleep. I don't wrap my hair, I don't bun my hair, I don't do crap!
If wearing a weave is what makes you feel beautiful, if wearing a wig, if wearing your hair pink, blue, that's what matters, in my opinion.
The experience of being a mixed person is all over the place - one of my best friends is Chinese and Italian; my other best friend is Lebanese and Trinidadian. The mix of heritage, culture or identity is something that our country is built on.
In the context of our world, sizes 8 and 10 are teeny, but not for Hollywood. I had to ask myself, 'Do I want to be somebody who worries about what I'm eating? Or do I want to find a balance where I can be healthy and not consumed by that and maybe have to buy some larger pants?' I bought new pants.
Clothing started as an armor for me. It was one of the ways that I protected myself from the world. It evolved into a form of creative expression.
The national treasure that is Diana Ross is a dim light compared with who she is as a mother. My mom paved the way not only for my career but also for who I am as a human being.
I used to literally collect friends that had hair like me. And it would start like this: 'What kind of products do you use?'