Putting all your eggs in one basket has never worked for me. Personally, I find if I decide too quickly that someone is my match, I start to get a little nutty.
— Tracee Ellis Ross
I'm attracted to bold women - I collect them. I met one of my best friends when we both were about 22 and working at 'Mirabella' magazine. I was wearing this blue dress I had borrowed from my mom, and I didn't know I had deodorant lines all over it until my friend signaled to me.
Clothing started as an armor for me. It was one of the ways that I protected myself from the world. It evolved into a form of creative expression.
My mom had beautiful clothes. My mom is elegant; my mom is glamorous. But my mom is also really real, and I grew up with a mother who had babies crawling on her head and spitting up on her when she was wearing gorgeous, expensive things, and it was never an issue.
I don't do what I do to get nominated. I do what I do because I love it.
I have a few rules on lipstick... I don't wear gloss because I can't talk properly. I like matte lipsticks; I like an opaque shade that you can't see my lip color through at all.
I used to watch my mom put her makeup on for the stage, and it was one of the most special moments. I would sit quietly on the dressing room floor and watch her put her face on. I think she looks most beautiful in the morning when she wakes up with no makeup on... it's my favorite look on women.
I feel like I'm on the inside for the first time. Inside the castle. I have an Emmy nomination!
Keep in mind that diversity does not just mean black. It means all of it - age, weight, gender.
Here is my wish and my desire and my pledge as well: that we remember our true nature and our womanhood. That we own and know that we are more than our bodies and yet our bodies are these sacred, beautiful, rhythmic houses for us.
I'm extremely blessed to have the extraordinary mother that I have, and I don't mean Diana Ross, I mean the mother. My mom paved a road that didn't exist, as did Oprah.
When I'm not working, I spend a lot of time on my hair. When it's time for my hair to get some rest, I either wear it in a ponytail, bun or my favorite 'milkmaid' braid.
I am a connoisseur of products. I check out everything, I try everything.
Keeping the facts differentiated from the fantasy is incredibly helpful in gathering your information as you discover if a person is a match for you.
It is important for me to feel like myself on a red carpet - not the way somebody else thinks I should look.
I have a vocabulary in clothing. It's like a whole language.
I just really strongly promote pushing against this culture of perfection. I mean, I'm sorry, for me, Spanx don't feel good. I've tried one of those waist-trainer things on - that hurt like the bejesus.
Julia Louis-Dreyfus is like a hero, to have played different comedic roles. She gets sexier, funnier, and better with time.
I think my biggest tip - and I consider it a part of my beauty routine - is getting my sleep, without a doubt. I do a true eight hours.
I'm baffled by the people who say, 'I'm just not going to vote.'
As a woman of color, we're raised to know we have to be twice as good.
I used to think 40 was old. Now I think, 'Hey, 40's hot!'
Because of my unique experience as my mom's child, the beginning of my journey was more about me trying to figure out who I was on my own. My mom is one of the greatest moms and so supportive of all my siblings and of all of us being who we are, and not who she wanted us to be.
I listen to my body. Some days all I want is a good steak and others, I crave veggies and quinoa.
The experience of both acting and producing has been wonderful. It certainly has created a full plate. But it is very exciting and rewarding to have creative input on the show. 'Reed' is about love and family and for me, playing a hand in shaping it has been deeply gratifying.
In this day and age, I ask anyone I date right away: 'Are you married? Are you in a relationship with anyone? Does anyone think they're in a relationship with you?' And by the way, if someone says, 'Yes, I am dating other people,' that's not necessarily a deal breaker. But you have to communicate it, not hide it.
Red carpet is a little bit scary. It's not about expression. It's about taking a pretty picture in a really weird, awkward way, with so many people watching. It's a glamorous part of the job, but it requires its own kind of courage.
I've never felt like I was in my mother's shadow. If anything, I felt like I was in her embrace.
Having been in the business for a while, I never like to look forward. You kind of enjoy what's happening while it's happening and leave the rest up to God, the angels, the trees, the stars - whatever you want to call it.
Lily Tomlin was one of the early comedy greats who influenced my courage to be the person I am.
On 'Black-ish,' I like my makeup to be really natural - so much that I can do it myself. My character is a mother of four and a doctor and a wife, who would not have time to be putting on eyeshadow or curling her lashes.
I grew up on the ragged edge of self-acceptance, where I was holding on to it, but it was easy to fall off. But as I found my way inside myself, I've been able to accept my own hair, my own shape.
We as black people are not a monolithic bunch. We are not all the same, and neither are women. Instead, we are all individuals who have these extraordinary stories to tell and share with each other that will enrich all of our lives and help us all become more ourselves and better people.
I don't really talk about my personal life. It's a strange and funny and weird thing. Sometimes you have a conversation with someone and the paparazzi snaps a picture of you and people decide you're dating. If I try to answer everything people say, I would be up all night.
I'm always touched by people's different stories of who they are and why they made the choices that they made. I feel so empowered by the story behind the person.
It is important to me to take care of my skin. In general I don't like to wear foundation; I'm not a fan of the look. I like my skin fresh and natural enough so my freckles show through.
I loved being a redhead! I always wanted to try it. I was obsessed with Lucille Ball growing up. I really wanted to try it but I always thought that doing it would ruin my hair.
