ARIANA DeBOSE
“Young people need to know that their dreams are possible. If you squelch a young person’s creativity, you’ve done them a great disservice. I think children really just need to be told that there’s nothing wrong with them, and that they do need their creativity. Their imagination is what’s going to save them. Quite frankly, it’s what’s going to save us. So don’t let anybody tell you that your imagination is not worthy of manifesting.” People
BOBBI BROWN
“I let go of the things that don’t make me happy. Then you have more room for the things that do. I just follow my heart and my gut. What’s most interesting to me is doing things that I have no idea how to do. I’m not afraid to look stupid. You learn along the way.” People
SOLEIL CROW
“Growing up, I was self-conscious about my freckles and my body since I was teased about them in the last year, I’ve really come into my own. You don’t have to be a certain size or look a certain way to be considered beautiful.” InSTYLE
KATIE HOLMES
“I drink a lot of water and try to eat a lot of vegetables to keep my skin as healthy as possible. I embrace my age with gratitude, and I don’t worry about having makeup on. My joy comes from within.” People Magazine
“There is no such thing as a classic beauty. Beauty takes on so many different forms, in different times and depending on the nation. It’s just about being confident, loving yourself, and understanding your value.” -InSTYLE
“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
“Gratitude is probably the thing that saved my life, because if I did not find that, I would have wallowed in my own sadness and probably just jumped. It was important for me to be broken so that I could find my wholeness in a whole different way… than just living my lifelike a thirsty pop star. I just wake up and I say, ‘Thank you, God, for today. I am grateful in every way.” -People
“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
“You should always be yourself. You can look to things for inspiration, but you should be owning what you’re doing. It should be your own. You should never feel apologetic about it. My mother was very healthy, drinking lots of water and eating vegetables. When I got to junior high, where you could buy your lunch, I began drinking soda. I broke out, and my mother said it was from soda. I stopped drinking it and never had breakouts again until I was 30 and got adult acne.” – InSTYLE
TRACEE ELLIS ROSS
“So many of us have a dream we have hidden, something we have kept secret. We think it will make us unlovable, that it will ruin the image of who we are. Instead, you discover that you can love yourself, and love who you are.” People Magazine