YVONNE ORJI

There are different types of experiences, and all of them are valid, and all of them deserve to be portrayed in a real way.

On a man, I love Tom Ford's Tobacco Vanille. But I wear Orchid Soleil - I love a sweet smell.

Auto-pay is not for convenience; it's for the gainfully employed.

Any show that speaks to people of color feels the burden to never mess up, never make its characters look bad - to always get it right.

I knew I didn't want to be a doctor but didn't know what I wanted to do. I prayed, and all I heard back was: 'Do comedy.' It was something I had never done before, but I gave in, tried comedy, and the rest is history.

A lot of people hustle differently, and I was like, 'You know what, let me hustle and create, and let me have something to show,' cuz my hustle led to opportunity.

What you see on TV is what you believe you can be.

I was looking around this room, this sea of industry folk. If I had have worn black and white, somebody would have asked me to get them a cocktail; the only other people of colour there were servers.

I entered the Miss Nigeria in America pageant - yes, it's a thing that existed. This was when I was getting my masters.

Wanda Sykes and I have had similar career trajectories. We're both from the D.C. area. She spent five years working as a contracting specialist for the NSA, and I got my master's in public health.

I had my masters in public health, and the goal was to be a doctor, and organic chemistry let me know that that was not going to happen, as did my fear of blood.

I was so focused on advancing in my career that I didn't have enough emotional capacity for dating.

I have immigrant, African parents. They would say, in their Nigerian accents, 'So you want to be a jester?' And I was like, 'I don't want to be a court jester, Ma. I want to be a comedian.'

My actual desire is to be able to comfortably walk out of my house without any makeup on and feel as beautiful as I do when my makeup artist beats my face.

For me, comedy was deftly terrifying.

I started comedy in 2006. I didn't even think it was a thing I could do.

Some people just don't subscribe to labels.

It's only in acting where I've heard in auditions, 'Can you black it up a little bit? Can you make her a little bit more urban?' And it's just like, 'What?' I don't even know the word for that.

I have a show called 'First Gen' that David Oyelowo is executive producing.

I grew up with three older brothers, so I'm very much a tomboy in real life.

I don't know how often white people look around and think, 'Wow, there's really a lot of white people here; we should fix that.' But I know black people often look around and think, 'Wow, I'm the only one here - why?'

I just love new, beautiful music.

I want to own a comedy club.

A lot of times, especially in the black community, where therapy is talked about, it's like, 'Just go to church.'

My faith - as well as my Nigerian culture - really gave me the substance and foundation to be who I desire to be in life.