Category: Emotional Awareness

Paul Newman

Posted on by Kendra

PAUL NEWMAN

“When I started adolescence, something in me closed down. I was so small, I had to get special dispensation from my school’s principal to play on the ninth-grade football team. I felt like a god**** freak. Girls thought I was a joke, a happy buffoon. I wasn’t a lover. I wasn’t an athlete. I measured things by what I wasn’t, not by anything I was.” People Magazine

Zoe Kravitz

Posted on by Kendra

ZOE KRAVITZ

“I don’t know if I could be considered a role model, but I think allowing yourself to be imperfect is probably the best thing you can do for yourself. In this time of social media where people constantly present perfection, that’s really important, so I try to allow myself to be as human as possible. I want to live without fear. That really is my goal in my personal life and in my career. I think fear is crippling and dangerous. It probably creates sickness, this fear of getting in trouble or doing something wrong or not being adored or not being liked. I think, especially as a woman, there’s a lot of pressure to be adored, and that’s not what art’s about either.” ELLE

Paul Bettany

Posted on by Kendra

PAUL BETTANY

“I was a sort of fool at home in front of my parents, but then at school very bashful. I was the kid that didn’t go out at recess. I really want my children, and I want everybody, to just live authentically as the person they are, and however hard that is, it’s absolutely better than pretending to be something other than you are. Having been through a thousand years of therapy, there’s real power in getting to know yourself… and I have so many things to be grateful for.” People

Normani Kordei

Posted on by Kendra

“Right now, there’s beauty in me having the time, even in this pandemic, to be still, to disconnect from the rest of the world, to journal. It’s just me getting to know myself, spending time with myself. I love being in my natural state. I have braids right now. Typically my hair would be pretty manipulated, a lot of brushing, half up, half down, extensions. But I’m in a season of being. I think I’m just discovering who I am, to be quite honest. And it’s not me in contest with anybody else; it’s me in competition with myself.” -ALLURE

Kelly Rowland

Posted on by Kendra

“I remember seeing a magazine cover that said, ‘This Is What Beauty Looks Like’ and not seeing any minorities on it. It made me question my beauty. Janet Jackson made me feel seen. Whitney Houston made me feel seen. Because their beauty was so taken in worldwide, it made me feel like there is a space for me. I remember the first time a fan said, ‘I’m you when we play Destiney’s Child because we look the same.’ And this girl was the same complexion as me, and that made me so happy because there’s nothing like feeling seen and being heard. The hardest part of my journey was cutting negative voices off and those negative voices were mostly the ones that I was inflicting upon myself. When I did my 2002 duet ‘Dilemma’ I was super scared. That was really the first time I got a taste of solo success. It felt overwhelming for me at the time. In retrospect, I don’t remember feeling like I deserved that. Which goes back to valuing yourself and your opinion and your greatness. You have  to surround yourself with people who believe that and who believe it when you can’t see it. There’s black art all around my house. I am like, ‘There can’t be any identity crisis in this house!’ Because I remember that was a big thing for me as a kid. I didn’t see enough people around on the walls or anything that looked like me. A week ago I heard my husband giving Titan a bath, and he goes, ‘Daddy, I am black and handsome and great.’ It really means a lot to us for him to know his roots and who he is.” -People