My mother is black, from Grenada, so my blackness was always there, but It wasn't until I started hanging with the upperclassmen black actors at my high school that I really got my roots in being a black American, which is a distinctly different identity and experience.
Amanda Seales
You're flawless when you embrace the things about you that you don't necessarily like, but you own them because they're yours.
Anytime I don't have to wear a bra is a good day.
I always say your truth is your compass to your purpose.
I definitely am very secure with my body and my likes and dislikes and the imperfections that some might call flaws. I'm like, 'Those are my thighs; it's just what it is.' I think a lot of that has to do also with... women being a lot more vocal about the fact that, you know, being flawless is false.
I'm not hostile. I'm passionate.
My brain doesn't work in a typical linear fashion: my brain is vibrant and fast and bright and on 10,000 all the time.
Wokeness, for what it's worth, is a buzzword that a lot of people are not truly understanding the depth of. I think sometimes things work their way into the zeitgeist, and they lose their weight. And wokeness is one of those words that has reached that point.
I have a theory that when you're lost on the path, go back to the beginning and try the maze again.
My hair changes with my emotions... and my purpose for the day.
Drake ain't fake.
As a black woman, the government is so much in my life, and it always has been.
'Smart Funny & Black' came about because I felt that black comedians were being considered as only capable of a certain type of comedy - sort of physical, kind of silly - and I felt like we are not a monolith, and our comedy isn't, either.
As an artist, it's incredible to see folks see you and then be able to give that back and to be able to send two girls to a Black Girls Empowerment camp.
Ideally, we date the folks who are dating for the same reason we are.
My whole intention is to break down these limitations of what a black comedian is supposed to be and to open up a space.
I come from an academic background, and I have a genuine interest in social change.
I paint because I love to paint. If someone buys the prints or whatever, so be it, but it's not my main form of business. As a performer, that is my main form of business.
Even when I was in school, I was doing papers and writing poems; I always had an edge to my delivery. It was never conscious, but it was more so my organic way of thinking about things.
I was in the music industry as Amanda Diva for 10 years but I realized that I had bigger work to do and needed to get busy doing that work. I really do believe that I'm here for a bigger purpose, and I want to be a role model and speak for the black community and black women specifically. Humor was the way it felt most organic and effective for me.
I can't even believe that in 2018, I still have to lay out why diversity in anything matters.
I used to work at Sirius. And when I got my job at Sirius, I was only 21. It was my first job out of college. And when I think back to what 21 was, though, you're an idiot.
When I speak of diversity, I don't mean replacement of white comics. I don't mean acceptance by white comics. We comics who weren't born into the white guy paradigm of 'funny' don't need a handout. We don't need a PC push. We don't need 'a look.'
I've always found inspiration in icons that were really of purpose in their craft or calling. From Bob Marley to Maya Angelou to Malcolm X, inspiration came from seeing how committed they were to their vision and determining it themselves.
For a lot of comics who aren't as silly or physical but more intellectual, we get looked at as 'alt comics.' No, I'm still a black comic, and there are black people who want to hear my type of black comedy, but that space hasn't been built out for us.
When I came into stand-up, I found a certain safe space of intellectualism, of camaraderie, of excellence that really has always been natural to me but always felt foreign in the other spaces I've been in.
Contrary to far too popular a belief, style, fashion, and fabulousness are not synonymous with stank, haughty, and self-aggrandizing.
I think, for a long time, I didn't have people who understood where I was coming from. They were giving me advice on what would be good for them.
Whether you agree with Trump or not, you can't deny he looks like a piece of pizza with the cheese off. It's just what it is.
Whether you like him or not, hip hop needs Drake.
I don't have the proportions for 'hood hot.'
Ladies and dentists will agree: Iverson has one of the best smiles to ever grin. This is uncontested. No argument! And he was very generous with it as well. Whether during a game, press conference, or photoshoot, Iverson was free with his cheesing.
The amount of silliness that happens to me is insane.
Comedy has allowed me to be my 100-percent-true self, as opposed to other places, where I feel like that's been a hindrance. Whether it's music or poetry or hosting, people want you to be something else: they want you to be packaged in a certain way.
In music, you ain't really got to be able to sing. In comedy, you may be cute, you may be able to add a little extra to your routine, but if you're not funny, no one's really rocking with you - and if you're a black woman, you better be hilarious. As usual, we always have to do the most.
Growing up, dating seemed pretty straightforward: If someone was interested in getting to know you on a romantic level, they approached, exchanged info, and proceeded to communicate with you in a consistent fashion between outings of various natures.
I'm a weirdo and an only child. That comes together to create one-woman shows.
From the beginning with 'So Far Gone,' Drake's work has been to find a way to deftly balance his singing and his rapping.
My thing about creating things is that it has to do two purposes: It has to serve me creatively but also has to serve the people.
'Smart, Funny and Black' is about celebrating, critiquing and learning about black culture, black history, and the black experience.
Exactly what I'm doing is what success looks like. I get to create on my own terms, on my own timeline, and I'm able to support myself and my mom and my cat comfortably.
I look to icons like George Carlin, Chris Rock, and Richard Pryor on how to present these concepts of social change and subversiveness to an audience in a way that's palatable.
For my web series 'Get Your Life,' I wrote that and produced it and starred in it so that I could have a body of work that represents my voice as a writer and as a performer.
I speak from a black woman's perspective, and that's a specific perspective, but sometimes there are things I want to be understood by folks who may not have an entryway into that concept, so I have to think about how I can open the space to bring those people in. And that does require balance.
I've been grinding a really long time, and I've been broke for a lot of years. I may not have looked like it because, if you're fly, you don't need a dollar - you just need charisma. But I was riding hope as currency for a very long time. I feel like now, more than ever, I'm in my purpose, and comedy is the foundation of that.
I'm an artist through and through.
I am from Florida, so I didn't 'grow up' on Wu-Tang.
My mom is an incredibly direct person, and I like things to make sense.
When people agree with you, they'll just like it and keep it moving, but when people don't agree with you, that's when they come for your whole neck.
I'm a nerd.
