Serinda Swan Quotes

Growing up, I realized as an actor I had to figure out how to use my platform in order to give back.

I really appreciate when people use their fame and their voice for more than just self-promotion, starting a dialogue about a topic or an issue much bigger than themselves.

It's one of the things about being a person with a public presence, to get to lend your name to a worthy cause.

After the Winter Olympics in 2006, I realized I had a platform to speak about causes that were important to me - and people would listen.

I only want to use my status as a comic actor to bring about a difference to society.

As far as my work for causes or social issues, that's something I'm doing as a private citizen.

I work with a lot of different charities, and by that I don't mean merely by giving money, but by really getting involved hands-on. I've always said that one of the reasons why I was put on this Earth was to help people. That's something I've always enjoyed both here in America and if I have the opportunity when I'm traveling out of the country. For example, I like to visit orphanages to spend time with the children. That's very important to me.

If you're lucky enough to be famous, then it's great if you can use your fame and the power your fame gives you to draw attention to things that really matter.

And I've tried to give us a higher profile. Typically, at a board meeting, we'd pass resolutions about the civil-rights issue of the day, but we'd never tell anyone. So I've instituted a policy of announcing our resolutions at the end of our meetings.

In community work, you reach some people, but in writing, I can reach many more people, not only in exploring issues of domestic violence, but also by showing the importance of strong women in communities.

I'm doing a very funny show in which we talk about issues. I speak at Aids charities and things. It's great to do something fun with our days and yet we're told we're doing something important.

After my touring life, I'd love to be more involved with charity. It gives me a lot of fulfillment, you know? I would love to get people who are into my music more active in charity work. In the future, when I have more time, I'd love to do spend more time on that.

One of the things that defines a TEDster is you've taken your passion, and you've turned it into stewardship. You actually put action to the issues you care about.

I think that celebrities should never underestimate their power. I mean just to draw attention, because then people get involved on a personal level.

You see people on TV flying in to places just to pick up a baby, or brush some flies away. That's great if they can bring that issue to public attention. But that's not what I wanted to do. I was interested in committing to something that I could function in whether I was Debra Winger or not. Because nobody might care about that next week.

I'm always keen to have more training as a charity patron.

For the charities, their relationships with celebrity supporters should be as deep and purposeful as the ones they have with any of their supporters and volunteers, based on a genuine understanding of the issues they're tackling.

I'm always wondering what else I could be doing. It never feels enough to just use my platform. I'm happy to give a voice to people who may not be heard half as much, but I'm always wondering what else I could be doing, since my position almost requires me to do more. And I want to do more.

I think I've done a good job of trying to figure out ways to continue to use my voice and platform for the right things.

I'm an ambassador for World of Children and St Jude's, it always been very important for me to use modeling as a platform to give back or raise awareness for causes that are important.

As an ambassador for the aid agency Cafod and the Anthony Nolan Trust, I need to be sure that my public support for those charities is a help for their work, not a hindrance.

I'm using my platform to help out a little bit, you know. It's only right.

To see that I have this huge platform now, and so many people are listening to what I have to say, it really makes me want to orientate toward something that would really educate people, create awareness, do something more than just show them a cute outfit or what I'm having for lunch.

Part of our job as quote-unquote 'celebrities' is that we can gather people around things that are important. I think it should be a requisite - there should be a clause in the contract that you have to give back.

There's always room to volunteer. I think that's a huge space to be involved with.