Tracee Ellis Ross
I loved being a redhead! I always wanted to try it. I was obsessed with Lucille Ball growing up. I really wanted to try it but I always thought that doing it would ruin my hair.
For me, it really is about the self-acceptance... the more time that I spend really accepting and allowing myself to be exactly where I am, the faster it is I move towards what I wanna be doing.
As a woman of color, we're raised to know we have to be twice as good.
We as black people are not a monolithic bunch. We are not all the same, and neither are women. Instead, we are all individuals who have these extraordinary stories to tell and share with each other that will enrich all of our lives and help us all become more ourselves and better people.
I think, for me, my goal is to continue to be teachable. I can't see around corners, but I want to be able to walk enough in my life where I go around more corners than I ever thought I could go around.
I am a connoisseur of products. I check out everything, I try everything.
The experience of both acting and producing has been wonderful. It certainly has created a full plate. But it is very exciting and rewarding to have creative input on the show. 'Reed' is about love and family and for me, playing a hand in shaping it has been deeply gratifying.
When I'm not working, I spend a lot of time on my hair. When it's time for my hair to get some rest, I either wear it in a ponytail, bun or my favorite 'milkmaid' braid.
It is important to me to take care of my skin. In general I don't like to wear foundation; I'm not a fan of the look. I like my skin fresh and natural enough so my freckles show through.
I listen to my body. Some days all I want is a good steak and others, I crave veggies and quinoa.
I'm extremely blessed to have the extraordinary mother that I have, and I don't mean Diana Ross, I mean the mother. My mom paved a road that didn't exist, as did Oprah.
I'm always touched by people's different stories of who they are and why they made the choices that they made. I feel so empowered by the story behind the person.
Because of my unique experience as my mom's child, the beginning of my journey was more about me trying to figure out who I was on my own. My mom is one of the greatest moms and so supportive of all my siblings and of all of us being who we are, and not who she wanted us to be.
I used to think 40 was old. Now I think, 'Hey, 40's hot!'
I feel like I'm on the inside for the first time. Inside the castle. I have an Emmy nomination!
I grew up on the ragged edge of self-acceptance, where I was holding on to it, but it was easy to fall off. But as I found my way inside myself, I've been able to accept my own hair, my own shape.
I'm baffled by the people who say, 'I'm just not going to vote.'
On 'Black-ish,' I like my makeup to be really natural - so much that I can do it myself. My character is a mother of four and a doctor and a wife, who would not have time to be putting on eyeshadow or curling her lashes.
I think my biggest tip - and I consider it a part of my beauty routine - is getting my sleep, without a doubt. I do a true eight hours.
I have a few rules on lipstick... I don't wear gloss because I can't talk properly. I like matte lipsticks; I like an opaque shade that you can't see my lip color through at all.
Lily Tomlin was one of the early comedy greats who influenced my courage to be the person I am.
Julia Louis-Dreyfus is like a hero, to have played different comedic roles. She gets sexier, funnier, and better with time.
I don't do what I do to get nominated. I do what I do because I love it.
Having been in the business for a while, I never like to look forward. You kind of enjoy what's happening while it's happening and leave the rest up to God, the angels, the trees, the stars - whatever you want to call it.
I just really strongly promote pushing against this culture of perfection. I mean, I'm sorry, for me, Spanx don't feel good. I've tried one of those waist-trainer things on - that hurt like the bejesus.
My mom had beautiful clothes. My mom is elegant; my mom is glamorous. But my mom is also really real, and I grew up with a mother who had babies crawling on her head and spitting up on her when she was wearing gorgeous, expensive things, and it was never an issue.
I have a vocabulary in clothing. It's like a whole language.
Red carpet is a little bit scary. It's not about expression. It's about taking a pretty picture in a really weird, awkward way, with so many people watching. It's a glamorous part of the job, but it requires its own kind of courage.
It is important for me to feel like myself on a red carpet - not the way somebody else thinks I should look.
I'm attracted to bold women - I collect them. I met one of my best friends when we both were about 22 and working at 'Mirabella' magazine. I was wearing this blue dress I had borrowed from my mom, and I didn't know I had deodorant lines all over it until my friend signaled to me.
Keeping the facts differentiated from the fantasy is incredibly helpful in gathering your information as you discover if a person is a match for you.
'Blackish' is set in current times. So, doing a police brutality episode in current times when kids are watching our show, it gives them an access point to have these kinds of conversations as family.
There's no way you can go home and learn lines, because you need to go home and sleep. So I've figured out systems. I order two lunches so I can eat dinner before I leave work, so when I get home, I can just go to bed.
I don't have children. I don't know how I would feel if my child brought home a different race boyfriend or girlfriend. I don't think I would have any issue with it. But I have no litmus test for that.
My goal is not necessarily to be an inspiration. I think, if anything, I want to continue to be inspired and to continue to grow as a person.
What I think is exciting is that, to a certain extent, there is a revolution happening where black women are owning their own beauty, despite the standard of beauty that in the past has not had space for it.
I am learning every day to allow the space between where I am and where I want to be to inspire me and not terrify me.Collection: Inspirational
Wisdom means to choose now what will make sense later.Collection: Mean
Differences in experience, points of view and opinions aren't what pulls us apart. It's what pulls us together.Collection: Inspirational
It was when I realized I needed to stop trying to be somebody else and be myself, that I actually started to own, accept and love what I had.Collection: Trying
I want to be awake. I want to choose kindness, live & let live. I want joy, gratitude, and peace today.Collection: Gratitude
As a younger person, my philosophy was jump off a cliff. I realize now that there are stairs and elevators. I am learning every day to allow the space between where I am and where I want to be to inspire me and not terrify me. I can even ask for help! Not feeling that I have to know everything, and that’s where the growth comes in, in the not knowing.Collection: Philosophy
I just want to say this. I love being a woman. I love playing a woman. I love being a whole and full woman. I am more than my parts, and we all are. And we all, as women, need to continue to change our gaze from how we are seen to how we are seeing. We are full and beautiful women, and let us live in that.Collection: Beautiful
When you feel happy, you look beautiful.Collection: Beautiful
I like to choose compassion over judgment and curiosity over fear.Collection: Compassion
I hope they look at me and think, 'That lady looks like she accepts herself'.Collection: Thinking
We all, as women, need to continue to change our gaze from how we are seen to how we are seeing.Collection: Needs
In some of the darkest and hardest moments, there is always a part of me that is okay. And I can always access that part of me.Collection: Moments
Just embrace your hair! I really feel like I am not an advocate for people doing what I do. I'm an advocate for people discovering and finding what works for them.Collection: Hair