Hari Nef Quotes

The question isn't who is going to let me; it's who is going to stop me.

Growing up in England, people told you why you couldn't do things. Suddenly, I had a publisher banging on my door, and was given the creative green light to simply make.

I decided that I would defy expectations, be it those put on me by society, race, socioeconomic status, or my father.

I always felt like - I mean, I was told, really - I couldn't go too far with the productions because it didn't appeal to black radio. It wasn't until I decided I was going to do what I wanted to do or I was going to quit that I empowered myself. I took my power back.

I rejected the notion that my race or sex would bar my success in life.

I think especially in a world where you have so little say about what goes on in your life, or in the politics of the world around you, it is wonderful to go into that studio, and tell yourself what to do.

There is something really nice about learning that you can take the reins of your life and your career.

The paradox of being in an industry where other people are usually the gatekeepers: publishers, editors - there are a lot of barriers to having control over your career. But coming out of hip-hop, the mindset was always to create your own.

I love a challenge. And I love defying limitation, gender stereotypes, and people's expectations of me as an actress.

I just kind of feel like it's my choice to do what I want to do. And my agent, he's totally with it. He tells me, 'You can turn down any audition you don't want to.'

I've decided to do what I want to do in life and follow my own path as an artist, so I've decided not to participate in any sort of nostalgia in which I'm marginalized as a pop icon of yesteryear.

I was not going to let people tell me what I'm capable of.

I've been wanting to produce for some time because I want to have more creative control over the things that I do and not be victim to the whims of other people's desires.

Something I've learned is that when people tell me I can't do something, I immediately wonder why and then think it through. It only makes me more motivated to prove them wrong.

I still want to do features, but on my own terms.

There's no way in hell I'm supposed to be on television or be a broadcaster of any regard. But I have defied those odds because I believe in this: I am damn sure not going to let somebody else define who I am.

No matter where you come from, no matter what you decide to do in life, you can do anything you want to do.

If you want it, and the more you keep hearing you can't have it, you just go and get it.

I've always been taught to never wait for somebody to give me the opportunity, but to create opportunity for myself.

The important message I heard about working out and what I want to share is that you create your own opportunities and your own limitations.

You are not the product of your circumstances. You are a composite of all the things you believe, and all the places you believe you can go. Your past does not define you. You can step out of your history and create a new day for yourself. Even if the entire culture is saying, "You can't." Even if every single possible bad thing that can happen to you does. You can keep going forward.

I think I've always been a follow-the-leader with my career, or maybe waiting for things to happen. Now I'm like, I'm OK-I know the direction, whoever's on board can go with me.

It is all too easy as an artist to allow the shape of our career to be dictated to us by others. We can so easily wait to be chosen. Such passivity invites despair. To remain healthy and vital, artists must stay proactive in their own behalf.

Don't worry. Don't apologize. Don't cower behind the defeated security of there is no 'room for someone like me'. There isn't room for any one of us. It's up to you to make a place for yourself in the world. So get to work.

I'm the only one who can stop me.. I'm the one who's been sitting at the stoplight all these years, waiting for the light to turn green.