Quotes from Zazie Beetz

For me, a big thing growing up was naturalness - both in being and appearance. My mom never let me relax my natural hair. For so long, I thought I was ugly, and I still sometimes struggle with that. But now I've come to feel like this is me.

Growing up I definitely, definitely had a bunch of things of, 'Um, am I black enough?' - and I guess specifically, 'Am I German enough?' Why are we measuring blackness?

I feel like, every six months, I learn my hair or my skin anew and find a new thing that I like to do, and then I abandon it and move on.

In the United States, if you're African-American, it can be assumed that your family has been here for generations. In Europe, colonialism is much more alive, and it's assumed you're from Nigeria or Senegal.

I remind myself that, though there was a time anxiety might have stopped me, today is not that day. And so, by checking in with myself, minute by minute, I push myself through.

I think what happens with a lot of writing and art is that specificity ends up being relatable while universality becomes vague.

I do wonder if it's my responsibility to spread a message of environmental awareness or political awareness or just, like, don't be racist or whatever, but I don't want to be the person who's like, 'Everyone be vegan forever!'

The version of me on the Internet, it's not me. It's one portion.

I don't know how people say exercising is addictive.