“Let’s practice motivation and love, not discrimination and hate.”
“Fashion is a great thing, it’s a way to express who you are.”
“If there’s any definition to being perfect, you’re perfect at being yourself.”
“Find something that makes you happy and go for it.”
“There are so many great things in life; why dwell on negativity?”
“A good hair day is when my curls are popping. Sometimes my curls and waves, they like to go a little wild sometimes. They have a mind of their own. But some days, they just fall right into place.”
“I think the way we react to things is a big indicator of our character and what type of person we are.”
“I was actually supposed to be a basketball player, not an actress. My parents had me playing basketball on competitive teams when I was in kindergarten. Even though my heart belongs to the arts, I’m a tomboy at heart, too.”
“I’m a chocolate addict.”
“It’s important to raise your voice in things you feel passionate about and things that you know about. Don’t raise your voice just to raise your voice if you have nothing behind it and don’t know what you’re talking about.”
“I was born an auntie. I have an older niece and nephew and many younger nieces and nephews.”
“A feminist is a person who believes in the power of women just as much as they believe in the power of anyone else. It’s equality, it’s fairness, and I think it’s a great thing to be a part of.”
“Why trip off some random person in Idaho that doesn’t feel my vibe? Like, no thank you. Stay in your life; I’ll stay in mine.”
“When you’re put in a position to really affect young people who are going to run the world one day, if you’re able to be in their life at a young age and make a positive impact, I think that’s a beautiful thing.”
“Of course I’ve had a problem with people taking me seriously because of my age. People are always going do that because you’re less experienced; you haven’t lived as much.”
“I don’t think it is important to be a role model, because if you are a role model, you are pretending to be someone else.”
“I have a phone obsession. It’s really hard on set sometimes because I’ll be checking Instagram, and then I have to remember, ‘Oh, crap, I have to shoot a scene or rehearse.’ Every now and then, I have to turn it off and live my life.”
“I talk about Beyonce too much. I am a diehard.”
“If I’m going to portray one of my idols and someone I feel… so strongly about, it has to be done right, and it has to be done 120 percent.”
“I secretly want to shave my head.”
“There’s no such thing as trends. There’s no such thing as style, even. It’s just whatever you feel.”
“Sticking with your vision and what you believe in is so, so important.”
“Pretty is so boring now. There are so many different definitions of ‘pretty.’ It’s so much broader than before. The old pretty is boring – nobody cares anymore.”
“I love playing with makeup. Makeup has become a thing where it’s an art form. It’s not a thing where you use it because you need to feel beautiful or because you don’t like the way you look.”
“I don’t think people understand the power of social media or our phones.”
“I’ve had a lot of voices tell me what I should be making. Personally, I would much rather live and die by my own hand. If my stuff sucks, then at least I made it suck. I didn’t allow some person, some old dude in a suit, to make it suck for me.”
“Why limit yourself? I feel like I can do anything.”
“I realized that if I don’t like something, I can change it. If I don’t feel comfortable with something, then I have a voice to say it’s not cool.”
“I use my platform as a tool and a way to speak about greater change.”
“It’s hard as a young person of a different ethnicity or background to look at the TV and not see anyone who looks like you. Representation is very important.”
“I’m a Virgo, and I know what I like.”
“Usually, I just don’t care what I look like. If it’s cold, I’m, like, putting on whatever I have to to be warm.”
“There is no such thing as ugly.”
“’Shake It Up’ definitely teaches kids about the importance of reaching for your dreams and setting high goals. It also teaches great lessons about friendship and family.”
“I love my fashion, so I gotta have my outfits.”
“I love simplicity.”
“People always want to doubt you.”
“Braids are not new. Black women have been wearing braids for a very long time.”
“I wore a mullet to the Grammys! I have no fear.”
“Top knots are the easiest thing to create.”
“One of my dreams is to walk down the runway during Fashion Week!”
“Oakland kids are always the best.”
“Remember that we are all human beings trying to do what we love to do.”
“I shampoo every other day and only do the roots. I can’t shampoo all the way down to the end, because it will dry my hair out. I use a mask multiple times a week to restore moisture.”
“I can’t do chapped lips. If your lips are jacked up, Aquaphor is always a good go-to.”
“I haven’t always been confident enough to rock different styles because I used to be really shy.”
“My room used to be full of Michael Jackson posters.”
“I’ve never had a body issue; I’ve never had a self-confidence issue, and there’s been very few times in my life where I’ve felt down about the way I look or the way I feel.”
“My generation, we really have to step up to the plate and vote. Tweeting is great – people say, ‘Oh, I don’t want this or that’ – but at the end of the day, tweeting isn’t a ballot. Just saying that you don’t like someone on Twitter is not going to turn a state blue or red. You have to vote.”
“I think when you’re young, you’re a lot more open-minded, and sometimes you’re a lot more perceptive about what’s going on in the world.”
“I was that weird eight-year-old who was really interested in Shakespeare and understood it and appreciated the language.”
“I remember ‘Hannah Montana’ came out, and I was so depressed, I started crying because I was like, ‘I want to do that.’”
“I’ve always been honest with my fans, and I want to keep that up because I feel they can see through the fakeness.”
“Doing and making positive programming for young people is so important to me, and I will keep doing it.”
“My mom started working at the California Shakespeare Theater in Oakland when I was two years old, so I’ve always grown up around theater.”
“Age doesn’t mean anything. Age doesn’t mean I can’t work as hard. Age doesn’t mean I can’t do as well as everyone else. It’s just a factor. It’s just there.”
“I love all types of braids. Single, multiple, box braids – I try them all.”
“Beautiful updos with natural hair are great!”
“I think, more than anything else, my dog’s death has made me grow up. I find myself thinking about the world in a more serious way.”
“I want to make affordable shoes of quality that are very fashion forward, chic, and that I’m going to wear.”
“My parents got me in trouble when I was in school because someone was getting bullied, and I didn’t do anything about it. I just watched it happen and then came to the school, and I got cussed out for not helping and not being a part of it.”
“When I was younger, I went through a phase when I didn’t like my hair. Because the school I went to was primarily Caucasian, there wasn’t anyone who had my hair texture. I remember one day I straightened my hair, and that was the first day that people gave me compliments on it.”
“I did kindergarten twice because I was so shy.”
“My first part in a play was one of the witches in ‘Macbeth.’”
“If you’re from Oakland, and you’re not a Raiders fan, then you’re not from Oakland.”
“I hate when books are written from the wrong perspective; when they’re written by adults for tweenagers. Like, do you truly remember what it’s like to be 12? No, not really.”
“What hasn’t Barbie been? I don’t think I can create an occupation that she has not done yet.”
“I would say that ‘Shake It Up’ was a chance for me to do two things I really love: acting and dancing.”
“My mother’s proud of where she’s from, and her history, and her past, and same with my dad. I have roots in Africa. Like, I am from Africa as well as from Germany, and I am very proud of that.”
“I am so honored to join the company of a roster as celebrated and diverse as Covergirl’s. I can’t wait to share some of my own beauty tips with fans and work alongside Covergirl to continue empowering girls and women to celebrate their individuality.”
“X Out has helped me keep up my confidence, and I know it can help anyone who would rather have fun than worry about blemishes. If you want clear, seriously good-looking skin, X Out is for you.”
“To all the parents out there, thank you for allowing me to be a role model for your children. I really, really do not take that for granted.”
“I was taught as a young child by my parents and family to love myself.”
“A lot of people don’t realize that hair is a big thing for a lot of people, not just African-American women. It’s something to be aware of and to be cautious of.”
“All my brothers and my dad at one point had dreadlocks.”
“I’m a little girl; no one wants to beat up on me.”
“I love singing and would love to record an album at some point.”
“Everyone loves Beyonce. If you don’t love Beyonce, we can’t talk.”
“Honestly, I just love great performers and people who love what they do.”
“My older brothers and sisters have kids and families.”
“My grown man crush is Morris Chestnut. He’s just timeless!”
“I love Channing Tatum!”
“I’m excited to be a part of the new direction the Barbie brand is headed, specifically how they are celebrating diversity in the line and encouraging kids to raise their voices.”
“When I first started out in the industry, I was 12 or whatever, and I wanted to be on something so bad, and I didn’t know what I was going to be on. At the time, I was in school, and I was working on drama and theatrical stuff, so I never thought that I’d end up going to comedy.”
“As a kid, my main interest was dancing. When I was 8 years old, I was in a hip-hop troupe.”
“I’ve loved Michael Jackson since the minute I was born. He’s probably the most talented person ever. He was able to create such an amazing career and be probably the biggest star we’ve ever had.”
“As I’ve gotten older, I’ve realized my true models are my parents. My mom is like a sheroe. My dad is so strong.”
“I didn’t like my hair and makeup one time on a photo shoot, and my publicist told me, ‘You should just be happy with it – they haven’t had a black girl on the cover since forever.’ She’s no longer my publicist.”
“The only way I was going to come back to the Disney Channel was if I was in a position of more power.”
“I have parents and family who will never allow me not to be grounded. If I thought for a second that I could possibly lift off the ground, I have a thousand people who will grab my ankles.”
“I feel that if you shelter your kids from everything, one day they are going to be out in the world on their own, and they are going to have to figure it out. You can’t give them a test if you never taught them anything that’s on the test. They’re going to fail.”
“My mom actually taught fifth grade, so… I’m good with fifth graders. That’s, like, my specialty.”
“As an artist, you have to work really, really hard because you gotta make something that will allow people to even take the chance to even listen to it, you know?”
“I definitely enjoy working with people who can do their thing but also allow me to do my thing, you know? Who respect the process.”
“You’d be surprised how self-conscious a lot of women are. That’s something I’ve witnessed firsthand.”
“There are things that people say that hurt my feelings or whatever, especially with social media right now. It can be the most amazing thing, and it can also be the most negative and detrimental thing.”
“What is cool today is not going to be cool tomorrow, and what wasn’t cool yesterday is going to be cool tomorrow.”
“The greatest of the greats wouldn’t be the greatest of the greats if they didn’t try stuff, you know what I mean?”
“My dad wouldn’t let me date until I was 16.”
“As you grow older, your music begins to mature and grow older along with you.”
“I’m not good at a lot of things. I am not good at keeping my room clean. I am not good at eating healthy. I am not good at sports anymore. I used to be! Not so much anymore.”
“Some things are really sacred and important to other cultures, so you have to be aware, politically, about those things before you just adopt them.”
“There were a lot of times people would do my makeup, and it would be awful, and I would be orange. Nothing matched. So then you learn how to do your own makeup. I watched a lot of YouTube videos when I was little and taught myself.”
“I love Adele; she’s a timeless, classic beauty. I think she’s beautiful. She’s just a real woman.”
“Janelle Monae, she has her own style, and it’s specifically hers.”
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