Carmen Ejogo Quotes

I was an only child, and my mom threw me into some modeling classes to get me out of my shell.

I embrace who I am. I just want my child to do the same thing.

A journalist in Toronto named Shannon Boodram saw my Facebook page and told me I was 'strikingly beautiful.' She shot a YouTube video of me, and it made a hit, grabbing thousands of views. She said the camera loved me and that I should be a model. I had never thought about modeling - it just hadn't seemed possible.

Allow children to be happy in their own way, for what better way will they find?

I didn't think there was life after modelling, believe me. It's a hit to the ego when you are not the diva on the set any more. But I think what keeps me going are challenges. I love when people tell me I can't do something.

When I was a kid, I needed to sing because it makes me feel good about myself. It makes me feel good, period.

Don't live vicariously through your kids or try to shape them into who you wanted to be, like the popular kid or an athlete. Children should be given the opportunity to be themselves.

My husband and I believe that if you treat a child well and nurture his talent and physical ability, in a healthy environment, the child will succeed no matter what.

Acting can be an amazingly cathartic thing - especially for young girls.

Art was something I could do better. It gave me a sense of self.

I've seen kids turn their lives around. It's usually a kid who's outside of the team-sport world, or maybe has a darker personality or doesn't fit in. Skateboarding ends up being something they latch onto. It sounds hokey, but finding a focus on something - whether it's skateboard or playing your guitar - can be life changing.

I love attention. If I see a gang of girls? That makes me dance even more!

If you are confident in yourself and however you want yourself to be presented, and you're doing well and doing it because you want to do it and not because someone is pressuring you, then more power to you.

My parents, Gary and Patricia, let me be in my world. They never told me what I couldn't do. It helped me adapt in a positive way.

Acting has given me a way to channel my angst. I feel like an overweight, pimply faced kid a lot of the time - and finding a way to access that insecurity, and put it toward something creative is incredibly rewarding. I feel very lucky.

I'm lucky I had parents willing to be open and believe that an 11-year-old might know what she wanted to do. Or maybe they thought I'd find out that's what I didn't want to do.

If one day I have a daughter and my daughter wants to be a model, I would never let her!

I want my little girl to tell me who she is so I can encourage her and not impose my desires for her on her life. I want her to dream big and to know that if she is willing to earn it, she can have anything - and become anything.

I believe in allowing your child to be who they want to be - as long as they want to be something great.

Music gave me a sense that I was worthwhile and that I had something of value to offer the world even though everybody was telling me that I didn't.

Some people are just self-motivated - my husband was. I also believe there are many children for whom parental involvement is key.

My parents made me believe I could do anything I wanted to do. They were really into empowering me.

It is so important to allow children to bloom and to be driven by their curiosity.

I've been blessed to spend time with young people and help encourage an environment where it's comfortable for them to be who they are. That's precious for children.

I was very insecure growing up, and even though I'm not that girl anymore, I think that the passion, that not feeling pretty and being insecure, is where my soul came from. And from early childhood, I let it free onstage.