Naima Adedapo Quotes

Finding ballet gave me passion for the first time in my life. I was always very shy and just wanted to fit in; I never daydreamed about what I wanted to be when I grew up. But dancing gave me a connection to my personality that made me grow.

It's always important to be yourself.

I'm much more than a pair of breasts...I represent success, hard work, and fun.

I just want to show Atalanta who I really am and show my teammates what kind of teammate I am.

I used to have to downplay my sexuality because I wanted to be taken so seriously as a thespian and as an artist and as an actor, so I'd play crack heads and down trotting women and disguise myself, and I think as I've gotten older, I become more comfortable with who I really am and all parts of me knowing that my physical self doesn't diminish me in any way or my talent.

I was like, 'What is this?' Until I found out it was stress related. That's how I internalized it. I don't do that anymore. My favorite saying in the world is, 'The privilege of a lifetime is being who you are.' I am telling you, I have spent so much of my life not feeling comfortable in my skin. I am just so not there anymore.

I tend to not speak up as much, so saying no is rather difficult for me. The biggest step of being an adult is saying, "This is what I do like. This is what I don't like." Being yourself means certain people aren't going to like that. I'm still figuring it out and taking things day by day.

I'd always been quite quiet growing up, and singing was a way of having a voice.

When people say 'I want to be like you', I tell them if you want to be like me, then be yourself.

Always try to be yourself.

Becoming yourself is really hard and confusing, and it's a process. It's often not cool to be the person who puts themselves out there.

Accept your own and be yourself!

if I could tell my very-younger self something, I would tell him to let loose more often. I think it all roots in sexuality, but because of that, I became so worried about everything — worried about what people thought. I was afraid to be creative and charismatic and eccentric. Just to do things to do things, like dancing. I was afraid of looking too flamboyant or something. I would tell myself to stop being so stressed about what other people are thinking. Stop being so afraid that something may not come off the right way.

When you do the first season, you're putting your life out there and you're kind of hesitant about it, and then by the time you get around to the second season, you don't care. It's like, "This is who I am - like it, accept it, or don't." There are so many misconceptions that now they can see who I am.

I want to let my fans know that I will not hold myself back anymore. Everybody knows me as "15-Year-Old Little Jessica who was on 'American Idol' and who is this sweet, quiet girl." I am very soft-spoken, but I have gone through numerous experiences, and I want to speak out and tell people what has been going on in my life.

It took a while to grow the confidence to say, 'This is who I am, take it or leave it.'

The most important thing is to be whatever you are without shame.

Know yourself, like yourself, be yourself.

I've had so many moments where seeing other women be fully and truly and authentically themselves, and express that, has given me permission. Once you see it happening, you're like, "Oh, I have permission to do that, too."

I always introduce myself as an encyclopedia of defects which I do not deny. Why should I? It took me a whole life to build myself as I am.

It's all about finding your voice in whatever your profession... it helps your confidence.

Winning is a way of expressing yourself.

Just be yourself, there is no one better.

I am not confident unless I am playing someone else.

I think that ties in with issues of identity as well - that sometimes there are parts of us we want to hide, and then there's other times we say, "You know what? Nope. Done hiding that part."