I think it's a real gift to be faced with man's potential for extreme cruelty but also man's resilience and the fact that love really does conquer everything. It's the only answer to these kinds of atrocities and it's not a passive thing.

And my one prayer to God, the miracle worker, was that I would wake up lighter-skinned.

Your value is in yourself; the other stuff will come and go.

We don't get to pick the genes we want. There's room in this world for beauty to be diverse.

European standards of beauty are something that plague the entire world - the idea that darker skin is not beautiful, that light skin is the key to success and love. Africa is no exception.

The muscles you flex in theater are muscles that you really need. I must always find a way to get back there. It's irreplaceable.

That you will feel the validation of your external beauty but also get to the deeper business of being beautiful inside. There is no shade in that beauty.