It's really scary, when you're on the verge of becoming a teenager, and you don't know if people like you for you or if they like you for the show you're on. So I started finding friends who were not that way, who are accepting and see you who you are.

I think teenagers just want a place to feel safe and understood and heard, while also understanding that it's really scary right now in the world. We don't want to be told, "It's all going to be okay." We want to talk honestly about what's happening and what we can do.

Some of you guys are sitting down, some of you guys are standing up. But if you really take a moment and you go inside your body, you can feel your weight against the earth, and you can recognize that you're the only person who's feeling your own weight against the earth right now.

I was really scared that other girls hated me, that I wasn't pretty enough or cool enough or I didn't have enough Instagram followers or whatever. Finding female friendship was such a monumental point in my life. And I never want somebody to feel like they have to re-evaluate themselves to join my friends or to join any friend-group.

There are definitely things about acting that have helped me growing up and finding myself, but there are also things that make it a bit more difficult. I guess I do allow myself to explore more when I know that, at the end of the day, if I really wanted to, I could just play a different person all day and be fine with that.

I started acting when I was 5, and it was always a part of my life. My life and acting weren't separate things; they were always one.

I think something that I've learned from other actresses is to really take the time to get to know yourself, especially because I think that your sense of self is easy to lose when you're playing other people.