The things that make us different, those are our superpowers.
Lena Waithe
To be yourself is truly a revolutionary act, and I think more and more people should try it, because it's gotten me a pretty cool life.
The '80s really were - talk about no rules. People just did whatever they wanted; they could look however they wanted. There was just a lot of bigness and brightness.
Being born gay, black, and female is not a revolutionary act. Being proud to be a gay black female is.
I'm writing my story so that others might see fragments of themselves.
Being a black lesbian myself, I roll my eyes a little bit when I see black lesbian characters on shows where it's purely there for decoration. You can just hear it in the writers room... 'What if we make her a lesbian?'
The truth is, for me, when I was a young black girl who knew I was different, was watching TV, I would always be staring at the TV set looking for myself, and I didn't see me. And when you don't see yourself, you start to think that you don't matter, or you start to think that something is wrong with you.
I knew very early on I wanted to be a television writer. My teachers told me I was a strong writer and had a voice. I really leaned in to that.
I definitely have been very mindful of what kind of leader and creator I want to be. A lot of that has to with looking at the writers that you work with. They're all like your children. They all need love, but different versions of it.
Talk to any black person in my age group, and they'll say 'A Different World' is why they went to college. The show literally changed my life, and it boggles my mind that it doesn't get the kind of love it deserves.
I don't want to be white. I don't want to be straight. I don't want to blend in.
I feel like I've accomplished a lot, but for me, it's about pushing to the point where I can be Mark Walhberg, Ryan Murphy, or Shonda Rhimes. I want to be at that table in terms of bringing new voices in.
Somebody could look at me and go, 'She's dressed black,' or 'She's behaving in the stereotypical way of a black lesbian.' But this is how I feel most comfortable. This is my authentic self. I want the freedom to be that regardless of how someone interprets it.
People can say what they want about a person, but if you're successful and you make them money, then people don't care.
Queer black characters have been the sidekick for long enough. It's time for us to finally take the lead.
People always go, 'Damn, how you got all this happening at once?' I tell them it's the Chicago in me.
There's something specific about Chicagoans, and I just felt like I'd love to tell their story in a creative way. Not in a way to go, 'Oh, Chicago's perfect.' I don't believe that. I don't think that. I know we have our issues.
I loved 'The Wizard Of Oz.' It was, like, you know how some kids, they're crying, and they put on - people put on 'Frozen' to get them to chill and just be quiet? For my family, it was 'The Wizard Of Oz.' They would literally tell babysitters, if she gets - like, if she starts misbehaving or she starts acting crazy, just put 'The Wizard Of Oz' on.
It was a symbolic moment when 'Moonlight' literally took the Oscar out of 'La La Land's' hand.
I think, to me, I always want to tell the truth. I never want to sugarcoat things. I've never been accused of pulling punches.
I'm a big believer in writing really good dialogue.
I never had everything I wanted, but I never wanted for anything.
I think once 'Empire' hit, there was a lot of bad black TV that followed, because we work in the business of hit-seekers and copycats, so they're like, 'Oh this is a show about black people; this is about music, OK let's do a version of that.' And, of course, it doesn't work because it's not organic.
I consider myself more of a writer than I do a director.
I remember going to 'The Wood' and leaving my friend and my mom, who I came with, to go sit in the front row because I was so excited.
It's interesting how things you hear as a kid take on a whole new meaning when you are an adult.
I'm a big sneaker head.
It's always been my intention to never be boxed in. I never like to do something that it feels like I've done before.
I'm queen of mentorship.
Maybe some young girl seeing me on the Emmy stage may have meant something for them.
Being on Netflix lets us be experimental. We can do crazy things.
My family still lives in Chicago: my mother, my sister, my nephew, my family is there. So even though I am not living there, I feel very close to it, and I visit very often.
The reason I get so excited about 'Master of None' is because it's showing people of color as regular people.
Obviously, I love Steph Curry. I think he's dope and a really cool player to watch.
I never thought I would write about Chicago, and I definitely never thought I would write a drama.
One of my favorites is 'Parks and Recreation.' Great show; awesome writing; beautiful, diverse cast. They also have a very diverse writer's room, which I love.
I was running around all the time, talking out of turn, a lot of energy, and obsessed with movies. There's nothing I loved more than going to the movies.
I think that for the most part, black people specifically have sort of been used as props in TV shows as a way to move story along or as a way to make things more entertaining.
I love Sarah Jessica Parker. What's not to like?
I write for my people.
I'm not asking for there to be all black writer's rooms or all Asian writer's rooms, or all white - I want them all to be diverse. When it's diverse, you're going to have a completely different dynamic. Everybody feels othered. Nobody feels like they've got the upper hand.
To be a black person is to come from a long bloodline of survivors and storytellers, with a resilience that people can't even comprehend.
I actually really liked 'The Help.' I know that may not be a popular thing, but I thought it was a solid film. It wasn't 'Roots.' It wasn't 'The Color Purple.' But you couldn't pick it apart in terms of storytelling, and I thought the characters were well written.
It took me forever to leave Chicago. I went to Columbia College because I wasn't ready to leave! My professors had to kick me in the pants to move to Los Angeles.
I hope that people will say that 'she told the truth, she told her truth, she wasn't afraid to live her truth, and she wasn't afraid to live her truth out loud.' That's what I want my legacy to look like.
I think the stakes are always high when you're an artist of color - to get things right, to get things perfect and make everybody happy.
There's been a lot of successful shows like 'This Is Us,' 'Atlanta,' and 'Insecure,' so, I feel like whenever something works, Hollywood wants to copy it.
I've known I was gay since I was young, I think. And I mean young - like, young - like 5 or 6. I think most gay people or queer people know there's something different about them very early, but I didn't know what to call it.
Being a black person in America is exhausting.
I sort of knew very early on that I wanted to be a writer. Even in high school, I was a big movie buff, very much into TV shows, and would critique them.
