Jessica McDonald Quotes

I'm very optimistic about the future, because... Okay, with Audra McDonald, even just on Broadway, they cast her in shows that are usually not played by African-American women, so she's very inspiring to me just because of that, you know what I mean?

As an African American actress, there are people who have been staples in my life that opened a door that I can walk through. I hope that I can have that impact.

I just want to be fully challenged as an artist, so that anyone who looks like me, who relates to me, says, 'Oh, if Danielle did it, I can.'

Latino people have come up to me and said they were motivated to become a lawyer because they saw me play one on TV - and you can't discount how great it is when they tell me I was the first.

Maybe some young girl seeing me on the Emmy stage may have meant something for them.

I want to inspire other young women of color and empower them. I want them to know that they can do and be anything they dream of.

What I'm trying to do is reinvent what the face of a champion looks like. I'm out there trying to represent for the people who question whether they can become a champion or not.

For me to be the first African-born WWE Champion is incredible because now, people who look like myself can look at TV and see on WWE television that anything is possible because I'm doing it.

I think it's a cool thing to have kids look up to me and to know that it doesn't matter, your background or your ethnic background. If you have goals and dreams, you can achieve them. I am extremely proud to be Tongan and Samoan, and to be the first on Tour and the first in the Masters is a cool thing.

Hopefully kids will look at me and see that your dreams can come true.

Because when I go places and I talk to kids and I talk to parents and I talk to athletes all over, and they look at my story and they see a person, African-American or not, they see something that they can relate to.

My mom was the first African-American woman to graduate from the University of Chicago Law School, in 1946. She had leadership roles in the law, in government and the corporate world. She was a great role model in that she felt anything was possible.

I thought, 'Oh, this is great,' because maybe someone who does look like me will watch 'Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D.' and realize that they can be an actor if they want to be, or they can be a superhero. They can have a hero that looks like them as well.

I realized that people had an unreal image of me, that somehow I was a god on Mount Olympus. I decided that if I were going to make use of my role as a Supreme Court Justice, it would be to inspire people to realize that, first, I was just like them and second, if I could do it, so could they.

It feels amazing to be a role model for people with and without disabilities.

I don't do stuff to be a star. I do it because I feel it's important for kids, African American kids, to see an African American face that plays baseball.

I think it's important to move people beyond just dreaming into doing. They have to be able to see that you are just like them, and you made it.

I feel liberated, empowered, inspired and motivated. Fear holds you back from achieving what you want in life.

The biggest adventure you can take is to live the life of your dreams.

I have to deliver the results I promised because, as the first Hispanic female governor, I'm going to pave a path of some kind. I want it to be one that little Hispanic girls will want to follow.

If I can sit on national television, and people are listening to what I think, anyone can do anything.

When I was15 years old, I couldn't look at the NFL and look on TV and say, 'Boy, there's a head coach, African American. That's something I'd like to do.'

I had to get to the point where I just had to embrace carrying the torch for the traditional girls out there. I love representing the traditional black woman.

Being the first female Doctor and showing children that their heroes in shows don't always look the same is a huge honour for me.

Listen to the sounds of nature. Wishing you the best on your trek towards your dreams.