“Do what makes you happy, because if you’re happy and you’re comfortable, people are going to be happy around you. They’re going to be comfortable with you even if you might look ridiculous to them. Because there’s something about you that makes them feel content. I’m not preaching that somebody should look like me. Most people don’t want to wear that much makeup or hair, but at least I have one thing that I know for a fact is real. I am comfortable with who I am. And I dress for me. I do what makes me happy. So I would just say to anybody, ‘If you’re comfortable wearing no makeup be that. If you wanna wear too much, do that.'” -Allure
Category: Self Worth & Esteem
Spencer Barbosa
“I’m my biggest bully, my biggest hater. But those rude things I say to myself? I would never say them to my friends. Self-love is talking to yourself with compassion, accepting that you’re not going to feel your best every single day and just learning from that.” – GL Magazine
Tyler Perry
In reference to sexual abuse, Tyler Perry stated, “It was rape, I didn’t know what was going on or the far-reaching effects of it. I just moved through it. ‘Boys don’t cry, shut up and move on.’ Holding on to all of that, not knowing what to do with it, there was a lot of anger in my teenage years, in my 20s. If any of it had worked, my attempts to kill myself…. I wouldn’t have gotten to the other side of all the horror. I believe that to everything there is an opposite. So for all of that pain and hell I was going through as a child, there has to be beauty. I tell anyone who is in pain, ‘Just keep going. One little step is a step.'” -People
Solange Van Doorn
“My mom is a girl from New York, and my dad is a strong, sturdy Dutchman. I grew up with dual citizenship, and I still don’t have a grasp on American beauty standards. It used to be about having blonde hair, blue eyes, skinny-girl stuff, but now it’s like if you are true to yourself and an individual, you’re beautiful. As a girl who’s happiest in an oversize T-shirt and seawater in my hair, I’m pleased with that.” -Allure
Dara Allen
“American beauty for me is very much about that transformation from something you are into something you dream of being. Hollywood invented the movie star, which takes a person from normalcy and makes them into something extraordinary. You take whatever ingredients you have and make what you want to be.” -Allure
Breck Gambill
“I’m a bohemian type of person, but to me [American beauty] is being a strong-minded human who makes her own decisions-being able to plan your own life and live to please anyone but yourself.” -Allure
Venus Williams
“Growing up, I was taught that if I saw something that wasn’t right, I had to do something, say something, and not censor myself.” -Glamour
Brie Larson
“It’s about being open to asking the tough questions, having the courage to implement changes and putting your privilege on the line.”
Taraji P. Henson
“To remind students every day they are worthy, that they are beautiful.” -People
Angelina Jolie
“You can always put on a pretty dress, but it doesn’t matter what you wear on the outside if your mind isn’t strong enough. There is nothing more attractive-you might even say enchanting-than a woman with an independent will and her own opinions.” -Elle