My thing is "You don't need anyone else to empower you; you can empower yourself." Whether it's a pep talk or putting on a good shade of lipstick, whatever you need to do, do it, but be yourself. You absolutely don't need someone else to tell you that you're good enough.
I feel like you can hope and dream and wish, but until you do, nothing is going to happen. So whatever you're passionate about, whatever your hopes and dreams are, you have to go full-steam ahead. But of course I have my moments where I'm trying so hard, and it never seems to break through. It's always when you want to give up that something's going to happen, right? So you just can't give up.
Beauty to me is in the eye of the beholder. Beauty comes in all different shapes, sizes, looks, qualities, but I truly believe that everybody is beautiful in their own way.
I'm not an actress; I'm not a singer. I guess I'm in the entertainment industry, but I'm in a different category. Hopefully, a young girl will see me and think, Oh, I want to be a chef! Or, She's a mom, too? Oh, cool, I didn't know you could do both! I want to empower people so they don't have to feel like they're putting themselves in a box. Growing up, I only saw one thing, and it's great that we're changing the mold and paving our own paths.
I'm accepting of change, and accepting of transforming myself at any given time necessary. At this point in my life, sometimes I have to be mom, sometimes I have to come to work, sometimes I have to be a wife. I love that I don't ever have to be just one thing.
I was always confident and comfortable. But motherhood is what really made me feel beautiful.
You look on the Internet, and people are transforming themselves on a daily basis, and it's not a superficial thing, it's not a vain thing, and it's not an "I don't like the way I look" thing. It's people truly being creative. It's a way of making your mark and making a statement, and I love that. Beauty is making a statement in whichever way you choose to do so, and I think that's a beautiful thing.
When you go into mama-bear mode and have no choice but to just go with the flow, that's kind of when I realized...it put life into perspective. Just seeing my little girls and knowing I was going to experience life all over again - I'd be able to take them to the same things that my mom did - it was beautiful. When you become a mom, you gain this vulnerability that is so beautiful. Just the fact that I'm vulnerable but I'm never ashamed is so cool.
I didn't like my mouth because I always felt like it was a sausage for a bottom lip, and I have an overbite, so I can't exactly close my mouth. It's really, really hard! But now I like it because it's kind of sultry, and it's my mouth. I should say I don't consider my bottom lip a sausage lip now - I like it, but I guess I grew into it. I definitely saved a couple hundred bucks instead of getting fillers.
My mom is Jamaican and Chinese, and my dad is Polish and African American, so I'm pretty mixed. My nickname in high school was United Nations. I was fine with it, even though I identify as a black woman. People don't realize it hurts my feelings when someone looks at my hair or my eyes, and says, "But you're not actually black. You're black, but you're not black black, because your eyes are green." I'm like, "What? No, no, I'm definitely black." Even some of my closest friends have said that. It's been a bit touchy for me.
There were moments growing up where I felt beautiful, but I truly didn't feel beautiful all of the time until I became a mom. It really allowed me to realize no one is perfect.
I have two little girls, four and one. My four-year-old is obsessed with makeup, and not through me! All on her own. But ultimately I'm teaching her that it's not a necessity; it's a treat. It's a tool that you can use to transform yourself. I think that's important. You don't need the makeup. It just makes you feel fun and allows you to be creative. That's what I love about it.
