Lena Waithe Quotes

It matters whether women sit at the table. No one speaks up for you when you are standing outside with your nose pressed up against the glass. You cannot window-shop for power.

I know one of the reasons I first started making Youtube videos was because no one looks like me.

In creating my YouTube videos, I don't want to speak for my audience and the people I represent; I want to amplify their voices.

f you don't have a seat at the table, then bring a folding chair.

I feel truly blessed to be one of the many black women who are leading ladies on television.

I think it's nice to break down that barrier, that models are seen and not heard.

I can't imagine how hard it must be to invest in a community... when you don't feel heard and when you don't feel seen.

Representation makes a difference.

When we go and cheer Cynthia Erivo on in 'The Color Purple,' it's because we've elected her to be our voice. She sings 'I'm Here' for all of us.

Look, yes, I'm a Muslim woman and I want to bring my community to the table, but I also want to make sure that I'm not being tokenized.

I want to create the content I didn't have while growing up.

We need folks who are queer or trans, to have an opportunity to tell their story.

I'm a believer that we should support various forms of representation because they clearly resonate with unheard groups of people, and for such a huge project like 'Riverdale,' this kind of representation is fundamentally important.

I think it's important for not just me but women of color, trans women, and people who are marginalized to be telling stories of themselves. It's important for us to be behind the lens.

I'm getting to use my platform as the Bachelorette - on my season - to really make change through my experience.

I want to represent Asian women.

From what I see, people of color are being called on in a different way. We're being heard in a different way - louder. And I think it's such an exciting time. The power structure is being redefined, and we're redefining beauty with the stories that we're telling and the women we're showing on our covers.

I will always make films that champion outsiders, because I still feel like one, even though I'm now governor of the documentary branch of the Academy.

I had a lot of different reasons for writing the book, but at its core was the desire to write for black teenage girls growing up reading books they were absent from. That was my experience as a child. 'Children of Blood and Bone' is a chance to address that. To say you are seen.

Even being part of a world like 'Black Panther,' that is gonna be something that's deeply commercial, it still is about a narrative of people who are unseen, unheard, and unrepresented, you know?

I want women and girls of African descent and of color to be able to not have to keep searching for stories about themselves.

Oftentimes, as women and women of color, we are put as supporting characters in other people's narratives. With 'Jessica James', she is the star of her own narrative.

There's a lot of people in Hollywood who don't look like me or don't have similar features like me.

If they don't give you a seat at the table, bring a folding chair.

I want to produce untapped voices, find people and help them get their platform.