Jenny Han Quotes

If you can't see it, you can't be it.

I think the Miss Universe title not only gives me the opportunity to become a role model for Latina girls around the world, but to show that beauty isn't just about the outside.

When I grew up, I never saw anyone looking like me on TV, you know? I'm so glad to see a lot more of us on television, whether it's Mindy Kaling or it's Irrfan Khan or Freida Pinto. You know, I hope, like, little girls across the world can just look at me and say, 'Ah, I want to be that!' Indian or not, it shouldn't matter.

I know what it's like to turn the page of a magazine and not see anyone like you. It takes a lot, a lot, a lot of talking to yourself to confirm your self-worth.

A hero that doesn't look like you makes you want to be something else.

I didn't have a hero playing in sports that looked like me.

It's hard to be what you can't see.

When I get to meet my audience when I go speak at colleges or when I'm walking down the street, it's been really eye-opening how many people have been touched to see someone that looks like them on television.

There's room for everyone, and everyone is wanted and needed. Whoopi showed me that. When I first saw 'The Color Purple,' it was so huge. That was the first time I had seen myself, my mother, my aunts, women that I had known my whole life on-screen. It gives us hope, and it gives us confidence.

Everybody wants somebody to look up to that looks like them so they can truly believe in that reality for themselves.

I wouldn't want them to feel lonely or outcast ever in any way. And no matter where they were in the world, I'd want them to always feel incredibly confident about who they were and proud.

When I was younger, I didn't have that type of person that I could look up to and be like, 'OK, this is someone who dresses like me and I relate to.' I didn't have that growing up, so to give that opportunity to a younger generation of women - and not just Somali women, but anyone who feels different - that means a lot to me.

We always talk about how important representation is. It's so important to see someone that looks like you - whether you're African American, Asian, Indian or whatever your background is - doing incredible things. It's just motivation to go out there and do incredible things yourself.

I'm proud to carry that torch and be like, 'I'm gay! I'm black! Hang your dreams on me. Hang your hopes on me. I'll carry them to the best of my ability.'

There's something to be said about seeing your face represented. There's just something really important about that. It just draws you in more.

As young people, you want to see people who in some way look like you to some degree, because it makes it a little easier for you to aspire to take on the qualities of those people.

I'm inspired to post a lot of positive messages on my social media because, growing up, I felt as though I needed somebody that looked like me in the limelight or in entertainment to promote being different and promote accepting your differences.

I didn't see anybody in the media or on TV that played sports that looked like me. I didn't have those things growing up. Now that I'm in that position, I'm happy to be that person if I can.

When you're trying to inspire individuals across the country, you have to have a reflection that people can see themselves in.

When I saw Neneh Cherry singing on TV, I was so glad that there was someone of the same ethnicity - and with the same curly hair - for me to look up to.

Representing young black girls and giving them hope and the light and letting them know that they can do anything is important to me as a little black girl, too.

Every fan interaction I have when someone tells me they can look to their television screens and see themselves reflected in me is a dream come true.

It's important for kids to see someone who looks like them carving his own path. I definitely acknowledge that, and I think it's super great.

It's important to see yourself represented.

Seeing someone that you can relate to in the media is everything as a child, and a lot of people are not granted that luxury.