One thing I am quite passionate about is the absence of dark-skinned women in the media, so I have a passion to show dark-skinned women as beautiful, as vulnerable, as people who can be sexually desired and loving people, because it is never really seen on TV.
We know there aren't enough dark-skinned women that are being represented so that was something I really felt like I needed to talk about.
I'm dark-skinned. When I'm around black people, I'm made to feel 'other' because I'm dark-skinned. I've had to wrestle with that, with people going, 'You're too black.' Then I come to America, and they say, 'You're not black enough.'
I think the main struggle for women in Hollywood and women in my position is to fight for true representation in the media and accurate representation of our many diverse qualities in stories.
Not all representation is good representation. I would argue a lot of the marginalized representation in TV and media is off, because a lot of the gatekeepers are white straight cis people who mean well and they think meaning well is enough, and it's not.
I hear a lot from women in Africa. And not just from dark-skinned women but from all women struggling because of insecurity. They thank me and tell me that I inspire them. And that makes me feel really, really proud.
Research is about following the gleam into the dark. It's also about being sensitive enough to know which fact is "the creative fact; the fertile fact; the fact that suggests and engenders," as opposed to the fact that deadens and kills a delicate new project.
My hope as an actress is knowing that I'm someone who is more privileged - I'm biracial and lighter-skinned - and I hope it can open up the door for more women of color, especially darker-skinned black women. I hope everyone hops on the bandwagon and decides to start putting women of color in movies that aren't just about race.
The premise of most media is that only conflict is newsworthy. And that's just not true. I think for a lot of men, too - certainly for most women - there's enough real conflict without manufacturing it. The media formula is always to have a pro and con, to say there are two sides to any issue, when in fact there may be ten sides.
I come from Israel, where most of the population is dark-haired, dark-skinned, dark-eyed.
I always prioritize dark-skinned women when I'm casting my music videos. I just believe that we deserve to be front and center. I never like to make the girls I choose look like backup.
The fact that I'm being cast in a show to play a female lead and I'm the dark-skinned Black woman with short hair, it's so incredible.
It's not like I'm looking for a blonde or a brunette, light-skinned or dark-skinned. I feel like I give any girl a fighting chance.
I'm such a huge advocate for strong, intelligent representation of women in the media.
There's only a very small representation of girls among you. Too little. Women have much to tell us in today’s society. Sometimes we are too machistas and we don't allow enough space to women. But women can see things from a different angle to us, with a different eye. Women are able to pose questions we men are unable to understand. Look out for this fact: she is the only one who has put a question for which there is no answer. She couldn't put it into words but expressed it with tears.
Do we hate our women? I don't think so. In fact, Pakistan has more women representation in government than the U.S., and we have twice elected a female head of state.