Halima Aden Quotes

My parents both came to the United States from the Dominican Republic, and they were deeply grateful for the opportunities this country provided. They raised my siblings and me to want to make a difference and give back. They taught us to work hard and aim high, but to also make sure the ladder was down to help others climb up.

I see I'm changing the game and opening doors for others, from my beginning from the east end of London. It's not a sob story; it made me the person I am today. It's seeing kids from any area or background you're from. There's a chance; you can make it.

I feel unbelievably blessed that I have had the opportunity to photograph Malala in her classroom in Birmingham.

My mission is to let black kids know that their dreams can happen.

Although the circumstances of our lives may seem very disengaged, with me standing here as the First Lady of the United States of America and you just getting through school, I want you to know we have very much in common. For nothing in my life ever would have predicted that I would be standing here as the first African-American First Lady.

I want to prove that you don't have to come from Oxford University or Rada - and you don't have to have parents that support you - to succeed.

America was born in outrageous ambition, so bold as to be improbable. The deprived, the oppressed, the powerless from all over the globe came here with little more than the desire to realize themselves.

My parents leaving a third world country to a first world country and building from nothing - that's really inspiring to me and it's influenced me in a positive way.

My big inspiration for hope is the courage that I read about from people from all over the world, or that I see on a daily basis from the kids I get to work with.

A white boy that makes C's in college can make it to the White House.

I cannot save the world; that's not what I'm trying to do. I guess I'm just trying to walk the walk and be an example to those that want it. Not everybody does, but if Mary J. Blige can come out of that same hole you were in, then you can do it, too - that's my goal: to do that without saying it, but actually live it.

My journey began with a single pencil. While traveling through India in 2006, I asked a boy begging on the streets, 'If you could have anything in the world, what would you want?' and he answered me with two words: 'A pencil.' Luckily, I had one in my pocket, and in the second it took me to give it to him, a defining dream was born.

I know some people say I can be funny. But there is always a deeper meaning to what I say. I am a socialist at heart and have the interests of the poor in mind. When people see how I manage to work my way out of tough situations, it gives them hope in their own life.

There are thousands of inspirational stories waiting to be told about young women who yearn for a great education. They are stories of struggle and stories of success, and they will inspire others to take action and work to change lives.

Education brings about opportunity, and in turn inspiration.

Encouragement from my high school teacher Patty Hart said 'you need to focus and theater might be your route out of here.' I created the program, went to college and graduate school and now here I am.

Now that Obama's president, it changes inner-city youths. They can now not just dream to be Lil Waynes and 50 Cents, but they can now dream to be Obamas.

If you can find ways to give people hope that they can achieve something or make a difference, then there's an opportunity for something good to happen.

I am deeply humbled by the hope and trust that Londoners have placed in me. I grew up on a council estate just a few miles from City Hall, and I never imagined that Londoners would one day elect someone like me to lead our great capital city.

Where I came from, there's not a reason to have a lot of hope. So much trouble, everywhere. But every now and then, someone makes it out and makes it big, and that person has an impact on a lot of other people.

If I wasn't from Philly, I couldn't promise you that I would have the same drive and the same ambition because, as a little kid, I always saw myself as making it out, and I would escape with television.

I never take for granted how lucky I am to be an American and what a privilege it is to spend each day at a nonprofit dedicated to helping the next generation of girls achieve their dreams. My journey, as the daughter of refugees, shows what refugees and the children of refugees can create for all Americans.

I grew up on a farm and didn't have connections, and I had a dream that I believed in, and I felt passionate about it, so if I can instill hope into somebody too with the film, that's what I most want.

Being that beacon of hope; not just people in Ghana, but any kind of people that have gone through the struggle, I take a lot of light of being that beacon of hope and inspiration for anybody that wants to achieve anything.

I was sponsored to go to the U.S. and became a Black Eyed Peas, and now I'm paying it forward and helping other children like me.