Nish Kumar Quotes

I said, "If I was a Negro girl-" He placed his fingers across my lips so I tasted his saltiness. "We can't think of changing our skin," he said. "Change the world-that's how we gotta think."

Have the pride of the brown girl and know that you'll figure out your own beauty in time.

I believed my story would be helpful to young women my daughter's age, who are still in the process of forming themselves as women, and in need of encouragement to remain true to themselves.

I am proud of who I am, and nobody's going to steal that.

Weight issues, race issues will always be there and if you allow them to get to you and you allow them to affect you then yes they affect you. But my thing is I have so many other things to worry about I can't worry about other people's perception of me.

I am a woman who enjoys herself very much; sometimes I lose, sometimes I win.

As long as we depend on other women for self-esteem, using them as bad examples or fantasy versions - special, powerful - of ourselves, they remain stuck in a narcissistic version of themselves, too.

African women in general need to know that it's OK for them to be the way they are - to see the way they are as a strength, and to be liberated from fear and from silence.

I know I've got to learn to believe in myself.

If I was to meet my eight-year-old self, I would say, 'Don't listen to what they say about you. Wear your anorak with pride!'

MS doesn't define who I am.

Aim high and don't sell yourself short. Know that you're capable. Understand that a lot of people battle with a lot of things - depression, body image or whatever else - so know that it's not just you. You're not alone.

I didn't grow up identifying with beauty. I grew up thinking I could be smart and funny - those are the things I got feedback on.

I wish I was 100 percent confident in my own skin. It's always a process, but getting older, I've become more confident.

I was a very quiet, shy child. I grew up in a small town, Louisville, Kentucky, and there weren't too many Hawaiian-Filipino girls, so I stuck out like a sore thumb. I didn't look like everyone else and didn't feel I belonged... But these things only build character and make you stronger. It taught me to grow into the woman I was to become.

You are more beautiful than you realize, stronger than you know, more powerful than you could imagine.

I always talk with models and they always tell me how awful it was growing up being tall and skinny. Then when you're older, you're really glad. I think it's nice to have been through a terrible time and then all of a sudden be so lucky because then you appreciate it.

I want Violet to be proud of every little thing that is her - her hair, her body. We're all different, and from early on, I've always said she has a very confident personality, and I want her to maintain that.

I think any time you allow someone to see themselves reflected in another person on screen, there's validation there. It's hard to feel strong and sure of yourself when you're 15, but if you can turn on your television or computer and see someone who makes you feel like, 'I can be that strong...' there's validation there.

What I like to think I've done is try to teach all women and my three female daughters, to teach them to rise above stuff, to find things that move you, to bring humor and laughter to everything that you do, and to realize that no other person defines you. Find what's great about yourself, and band together as women.

I wasn't always confident; it took me awhile to kind of assume my role in fashion and feel attractive and be able to walk into a room.

I was too old, too young, too fat, too thin, too tall, too short, too blond, too dark - but at some point, they're going to need the other. So I'd get really good at being the other.

If I grew up in a truly color-blind society, I would not be a black American.

He makes people pleased with him by making them first pleased with themselves.

Putting myself out there knowing I can be criticized - it's ironic, but to me, that's the most empowering thing.