Unfortunately, there's a lack of roles for women of color, so you actually have to be the engineer creating some of those roles..

I'm glad that I get to take my final walk as the princess of 2012. ...there's nothing wrong with winning an Oscar!.

People who are overweight face discrimination. African-Americans face discrimination. Women face discrimination and sexism. So I don't have the luxur….

Any upward movement is movement for us all..

You know, bigotry isn't relevant to just the South. It never was. But I'm very grateful that I don't know what it's like from experience..

I want to see more women behind the scenes..

To be silent is to be passive..

There is one thing about knowing history, and another in recreating it..

The way to bring about change is to be proactive and active..

The things that scare you only make you better and stronger..

I really believe things happen as they're supposed to and in the time that they're supposed to..

I choose projects that resonate with me on some personal level and projects that I'm afraid to do. If I'm afraid to do them, then I usually say yes, ….

My faith is tested daily..

I don't think you learn as much about yourself when you are moving forwards as when you have fallen backwards. That's when you really learn who you a….

I want to find things that challenge me..

Civil rights happened because youth got involved. The youth stood up and helped to break the pattern that their parents had got accustomed to living.….

What's not fair is having the responsibility of a supervisor but not the title or the pay..

You cannot live to please everyone else. You have to edify, educate and fulfill your own dreams and destiny, and hope that whatever your art is that ….

I hope that in some way that I can be some sort of beacon of hope, especially because I am not the typical Hollywood beauty..

I'll say that I don't think you can throw a stone and not come in contact with someone who knows someone or has problems with substance abuse..

Even in my music, I am always searching for big, universal things - ways that you can sort of reach outside the norm of what you are doing..