"I want women to know—and not just women, men! Anyone going through something, because we divorce ourselves from different things in life. It’s not just necessarily a person; it could be a bad habit. It’s saying it’s okay to let go of things and still be able to move on after"

"It’s a name that goes to show all the women out there who do stand-up, you can be beautiful on stage. You can be as sexy as you want to be on stage. You can wear your heels and do your makeup and hair and you can still go out there and be a beast in comedy"

"Some people feel like when they get divorced, life is over. It’s different, but it’s not over. We’ve got to get back into dating. We’ve got to get back into the world and reintroduce ourselves. We’ve got to work out"

"So, it’s one of those I didn’t win but I won situations. I’m grateful for every experience and everyone I had the opportunity to meet. And just moving forward, I’ve learned to not cater to one type of crowd"

"There are consequences to your actions. It may not be today or tomorrow but be mindful of what you do because there are consequences. Also, no YOLO. That “you only live once”—don’t do that, because you could die tomorrow, but what if you don’t die tomorrow? The decisions you make today could affect your tomorrow and here on out. So that’s advice I give to my students or my own kids or even just friends of mine who have this mentality of, “But I could die tomorrow!” Well, there’s a big chance you won’t, so don’t do that today. I need to listen to that myself, because I’ve been doing some stuff that I’ve been forgetting have consequences. That’s my biggest mantra is be mindful of what you do because it will come back to you eventually."

"First of all, people listened to me. I could talk as much as I wanted, and they would listen. And two, it was healing. Not just for me, but for the subjects that I talk about. I was talking about going through a breakup, and there were so many women in the audience who came up to me and said, “I’m going through a breakup too,” or, “I just went through a breakup and listening to you onstage, it doesn’t feel that bad anymore.” So, there’s a healing component in stand-up that I fell in love with, just knowing that somebody is listening and walking away in a better space"

"I think being kind is actually harder than people like to admit"

"You can tell when someone is driven by labels. If something is couture they think it’s important and wear it and sometimes make a terrible fashion mistake. People are shocked that I know so little about designers. I know the big ones because my grandmother wore them or they’ve been around forever. I know you because you’re my best friend, but I don’t know much about the fashion world except for when I like something, I like it."

"Humor trumps everything and is probably number one. I think it trumps being politically correct"

"Sometimes we can’t show up, and that’s okay as long as we know how to communicate that we love those people."

"I think I'm lucky having parents that have been in show business for a while and they don't care about the shiny stuff so much. They raised me in that way– to stay grounded, not to chase the shiny pretty things."

"Typically white people have the story, and any kind of minority is like adding that pop of red or fun purse or pair of shoes to jazz up an outfit. These people are accents that make things funny, weird, or dramatic"

"I’m another human being, floating around out there in the universe and figuring it out, too. If seeing that brings you comfort, or gives you hope, or makes you feel anything— makes you feel not al􏰀one — if that is being a role model, then I’m happy to do that."

"I’m proud of where I come from. Now it’s nice to be in a place where I feel like when people ask me about my parents, I’m not like, ‘Let’s not talk about that.’ I’m like, ‘They’re awesome. I’m grateful to be their child. And I’m also my own human being"

"Everyone learns differently. Everyone hears things differently. Everyone has different strengths and weaknesses and insecurities, and you have to learn how to support them and what they need to hear. Some actors really need to hear ‘Good job’ after a take. Some actors don’t care. It’s really understanding that"

"We’ve seen stories so many times that when something is actually surprising, it’s the best gift I think you can get"

"Where women are concerned, there’s a lot of pressure to do everything perfectly, all the time. So when we go out of our comfort zone, it’s no small thing."

"I also really wanted to honor that generation of women that really were made to feel like, "This is how it is. Deal with it.""

"I want this to be a forum where the best and brightest work together in an operating environment that embraces advanced knowledge and technologies to improve lives, including the life of our planet!"

"I’ve always felt very in touch with my masculine side"

"Being uncomfortable with the human body is colonization/brainwashing"

"The point of being alive is to experience life and play with it"

"Creativity is like this invisible thread that you find, and then knowing I’ve got the thread, I’ve just got to keep following it. It’s going to show up, and that confidence is where the good shit is"

"My parents didn’t become who they are because anything was handed to them, and they didn’t raise a child who expected something to be handed to her, either"

"I needed someone to say, “You’re a woman now. Dress like a woman"

"Why aren’t women starring in more films? It’s because the men are writing them and are the ones cutting the checks. We can’t blame them, I personally don’t think. We need to take that extra step"

"I like playing women I identify with"

"We were victims of a lie"

"There’s a difference between being cocky and knowing to trust that you know what you’re doing"

"And I don’t really know how or why I’d play the hero’s girlfriend, someone with no point of view. I wouldn’t know what to do with the part. There’s no humanity in that kind of character"

"I do believe that it's something women have the power to do, but I do think we have yet been given the opportunity within society to actually exercise it on a massive scale. That is the reason why it’s open-ended. And I appreciate what you're saying about wanting to know and saying, "Okay, what does she do with this power?" But I wanted to really leave that question open. Is she ending a cycle or is she continuing a cycle? Is it the idea of the oppressed becoming the oppressor, or does everything change now because the woman is in charge and power is this entity?"

"My feelings don’t get hurt if the idea doesn’t come across or the idea doesn’t work"

"There have definitely been moments in my life where I’ve felt like I needed to soften my edges in some way"

"If the story is exciting, it can get me on board even if I’m offered a small part, because I want to contribute to stories that I feel are important to tell"

"It’s amazing to see the extent to which we’re influenced by our appearance"

"Every time someone, but I’m thinking specifically of women, tries something they’re not sure they can do, they’re taking a risk that requires courage"

"In the end, it’s all about self confidence. When you have it, there’s no need to overdo anything – you just have to choose the right colours, the right cuts and the right fabrics"

"I sincerely believe beauty is to be found inside us"

"I still smell smoke and see fire"

"I still see Black businesses being burned. I still hear airplanes flying overhead. I hear the screams"

"Let's level the playing field by making essential knowledge available, get it to people who need it, and support them in being healthy and self-sufficient"

"I was incredibly privileged"

"my instinct is always to say [to myself], ‘It’s not mine"

"The fact that people don’t think what they say affects a celebrity because [they’re] not a person to them is crazy"

"I’m a human being. I want to fucking defend myself"

"The fact that I was like, ‘Should I not have worn that?’…. No, I do what I want to do, and I make what I want to make, and if I start being afraid of what other people are going to say or think, I’m no longer doing my job as an artist. I’m not experiencing the world and putting that into art. I’m walking on eggshells. Fuck that. So, I needed to take a minute"

"in order for someone to be on the top, someone has to be on the bottom. It's oppressive by nature"

"all the scripts that were being sent were about the first Black woman to make a muffin or something. Even though those stories are important to tell, I also want to open things up for myself as an artist"

"I see the human in everyone and everything"

"inner reality creates the outer form"