Empowering Narratives Quotes

My husband [Julius Tennon] and I started a production company. We've already optioned a book and some scripts to do exactly that, to create more complicated, multi-faceted roles for African-Americans, especially African-American females. I think it's important.

Stories have inspired me all my life. I like reading about what other people have done and it inspires me to share my own stories, and encourage people to make their own life stories.

Change your story, change your life. Divorce the story of limitation, and marry the story of the truth and everything changes.

When I hear people watched my film and then got on their own bikes and rode, whether a few miles or across America, to achieve their own goals - that excites me. It's the power of a story.

Feminist art may... though perhaps our imaginations are so mutilated now that we are incapable even of the ambition, introduce a new theme... should we call it 'joy'?

I wrote myself back together. I wrote myself toward a stronger version of myself . . . Through writing and feminism, I also found that if I was a little bit brave, another woman might hear me and see me and recognize that none of us are the nothing the world tries to tell us we are.

In my books my characters experience things as they are. My books allow youth an honest look at important issues affecting them. As adults we want to believe things like sex abuse or drug use are not happening anymore, or happening less and less, but that's not the case and we need to acknowledge that. We can't make life prettier for youth, but we can arm them.

I personally don't enjoy films that bring black people down. I find that a majority of the films that black people are starred in nowadays, are ones focused on gang violence or dancing.

With a purposeful story, you can change a "wanna be" to a "gonna be" to a "be".

Children's authors don't talk down or patronise their younger readers.

Literature has done great work for feminism - writing and reading are a practice of empathy - and great literature will continue to do so.

Not all our movies have a social message, but I love the ones that do, and I'd love to do more of them.

I love when I get stories of young women that have overcome things such as birth defects that they've been hated on for or even just their own body confidence stories.

I love stories of female empowerment. I love stories of, "Hey, I'm an ordinary person." "No, you're not!" I love stories about not knowing you have it in you, but when called to task, you rise and you find out who you are.

Nordie's at Noon is an honest and inspiring testament to [these authors'] experiences which, I am completely confident... will inspire thousands of women as it inspired me.

I don't think it's a bad thing to play a character that's not necessarily a super-woman. Even if the character is a little bit stereotypical, as long as the whole story is good and positive, or makes some sort of important statement, I think it's okay. But, on the whole, you can't just do that, especially as a black woman. It's more of a responsibility. You've gotta let the world see black women being successful, strong, smart, with power and who are self-possessed.

I have not forgotten my story I want to tell Millennial women. I'm still waiting for them all to gather out there. I sent out a request for people to call Millennial that they know.