Before 'Insecure,' I was a wedding emcee - a host for weddings. That's a world that a lot of people are not familiar with.Collection: Wedding
I used to work in public health, and the issues were sustainability, how the funds were being delineated, and if the funds were actually helping the people we think they're helping.Collection: Health
A healthy smile has always been important to me.Collection: Smile
I was so focused on advancing in my career that I didn't have enough emotional capacity for dating.Collection: Dating
You turn 'Insecure' on, and you see a sea of brown. You see at the core of it a strong friendship between two brown-skinned girls.Collection: Friendship
I have a saying: Nigerians don't fit in second place. Everything we do we go hard.
I grew up with three older brothers, so I'm very much a tomboy in real life.
I can only see what's in front of me, but God can see what's behind, what's ahead of me, what's beside me, and it just makes it so much easier to release control, cuz at the end of the day, if He brought me to it, He's gonna have to bring me through it.
I grew up in a place called Port Harcourt, Nigeria, the youngest of four. What I remember most about Nigeria was the ease. I would play by the pool, have fun with friends.
I believe in being diligent but also cut yourself some slack. It's okay in the grand scheme of life.
Auto-pay is not for convenience; it's for the gainfully employed.
I always say my Christianity and my virginity don't limit options. I think that they refine my options.
I say all the time that when you first meet me, you know three things right off the bat: I'm Nigerian, I love to laugh, and I love Jesus.
For me, staying ready has always been, like, the preparations: do the behind-the-scenes or do what you think that's not sexy that nobody will see, but when they do see it, it's like, 'Oh, snap... what she's doing on her own, we'll add to that, and it'll blow up.'
I have immigrant, African parents. They would say, in their Nigerian accents, 'So you want to be a jester?' And I was like, 'I don't want to be a court jester, Ma. I want to be a comedian.'
There are different types of experiences, and all of them are valid, and all of them deserve to be portrayed in a real way.
To not have the wherewithal to give fully to a relationship bothered me.
There's random people calling my phone: 'Your mother gave me your number.' My mother has tried to set me up so many times long-distance.
I want to do more good work. That's very much my parents' influence in me.
A lot of people hustle differently, and I was like, 'You know what, let me hustle and create, and let me have something to show,' cuz my hustle led to opportunity.
I'm grounded in who I am.
I was bullied because I have this thick Nigerian accent.
We didn't grow up with TV as a viable means of supporting yourself.
I remember talking to old-school African American grandpops, and they're just like, 'When I saw my wife, I looked up from across the street, and I said, 'That girl gon' be my wife someday.' And we've been married 45 years.' Like, what? That's all it took?
I just love new, beautiful music.
I have a show called 'First Gen' that David Oyelowo is executive producing.
I think there is this narrative that if you are a black woman, and you are strong, and you are educated, it's like, 'Good luck getting a black man.'
People are surprised I do comedy! And I'm like, 'Guys, that's all I have been doing. For, like, forever.'
As strong as we are, we have our moments. My mama is an African woman who had four kids and was a nurse for 25 years, and she had her moments. I've seen her cry.
I believe in the equal and opposite: If I exist, there is an equal and opposite version of me, and so however long I have to wait, and wherever he happens to be, we'll find it. Sometimes it's like, 'Jesus, where he at?'
How many shows on TV do you see young black people, both women and men, really embody a full-fledged human being, flaws and all?
When something is not great, I'm not going to eat it. It's not enough to just get full. It's like, how does this make you feel?
I entered the Miss Nigeria in America pageant - yes, it's a thing that existed. This was when I was getting my masters.
For me, comedy was deftly terrifying.
My father just instilled in me that either you're going to be No. 1 or nothing at all.
I want to own a comedy club.
I don't look at God as some boring dude in the sky that tells me what to do all day. I legitimately be like, 'Yo, you know what, G, that's crazy how that happened. That's dope. You know, you the real MVP.'
I'm just gonna talk about being Nigerian-American. I'm gonna talk about being single. I'm gonna talk about what happened to me on the train today. I'm gonna talk about so many other things that, as a comic, you're able to talk about because you see the world in sarcasm.
When it comes to black female comedians, it's like, if you're not overweight, are you funny? There's rules, like, you can't be skinny and pretty and funny. I'm all three, sorry to break it to you.
I went to an all-girls boarding school in Maryland. I used to laugh at the girls in the theater program - I was pre-med, National Honors Society; I was on that track.
Every time you're on stage, you're acting.
I love a dark brown blush, like brown on brown.
On a man, I love Tom Ford's Tobacco Vanille. But I wear Orchid Soleil - I love a sweet smell.
I grew up Catholic, so I had a more traditional relationship with religion.
Over the years, my relationship with God has changed my life for the better - it's grown me up, given me a sense of purpose, and grounded me in my identity.
My faith - as well as my Nigerian culture - really gave me the substance and foundation to be who I desire to be in life.
I don't even know anyone who hasn't watched 'Sex and the City.' If you didn't, we can't be friends.
New York is a walking city, so you'll be dressed to the nines, and you'll go out, and you feel more special and more pretty because more people acknowledge you.
High school is really when I came into my own.
My actual desire is to be able to comfortably walk out of my house without any makeup on and feel as beautiful as I do when my makeup artist beats my face.