Quotes About Representation

You have to have more people who don't look like you in the writers room. I try to have some people who don't look like me in my writers room. I think it's important to have a group of voices, of people who can dissent.

If you are not diverse and you are not listening to all voices and have your ear to the ground, you're not going to make the best decisions.

I can't tell you the number of stories I've told with a female protagonist don't get bought, or they do get bought and get changed drastically. Or, I will literally write into the script different races, and they get cast all-white. I hope that stops and it opens the door for more voices to be heard in movies.

I'm actually a big fan of having all the different types of voices on television. I think it gives people a nice little buffet that they can just pick and choose how they want to get their news and entertainment, I guess.

We must use our seat at the table to be a voice every day for women and girls across the country who often do not have the same opportunity to have their voices heard. This means advocating for childcare and paid family leave, as first daughter Ivanka Trump has championed in this administration.

I'm lucky enough to have some celebrity light around me. I can go on a platform and say what I think to represent these voices that can't be heard.

Every episode of 'The Conversation' was created to be a platform for women, to connect women, and to allow women's voices to be heard as much as possible. That's why I launched that show on a television network and online simultaneously.

What I'm interested in doing now is to go and give voices that are not being heard a platform and to sort of bring people into people's homes that you think you may hate or despise.

I feel like I've accomplished a lot, but for me, it's about pushing to the point where I can be Mark Walhberg, Ryan Murphy, or Shonda Rhimes. I want to be at that table in terms of bringing new voices in.

I don't think that we are completely dominated by what we have inherited from the past, but it is the case that as far back as you can go - just to Homer, but also to the literature of Rome, the literature of the Middle Ages and Renaissance - what you will find is that women's voices are not taken seriously.

I want the Latino 'Do the Right Thing' to happen. I want filmmakers whose voices are not represented to get a shot.

The more queer characters I play over my years of working as an actor, and the more I see other young artists stepping up with the same intention I have, to make space for the voices of a generation of people who may not fit the status-quo, the more it inspires me to keep going.

We have to trust the voices of the community to be in leadership and know what we need for our communities.

Media gatekeepers - editors, publishers, film studios and the like - need to begin investing in talent behind the scenes, developing and resourcing marginalized voices to tell their own stories. At the end of the day, it's about the story and what will enable the audience to truly see, understand, and know the life and times of the subject.

Throughout African-American literature, the writer has, in a sense, been burdened by the necessity of pleading the case for the whole race. For example, writers of slave narratives tend to lose their individual voices, as they were expected to stand in for all other voices, which were absent.

We want to teach girls of color the skills they need and create a diversity of voices into the tech community.

Unfortunately, too few women take the risk of running for political office or assuming positions of influence. As a result, our voices are not part of the conversation yet alone the final decision.

The podcast revolution has taught us that women's voices aren't just pleasurable to listen to, they are essential.

The fact that we're young females and our voices are being heard loud and clear is really, really special to both of us.

When I'm playing an American, I don't play Lennie with an American accent. They're American characters who look like me, but they have different voices.

A lot of times in comedy, and also in podcasting and television, there are different kinds of voices that can be celebrated. So you can have 'Insecure' exist, you can have a '2 Dope Queens' exist, you can have 'The Mindy Project' exist - very distinct, funny voices from women and from people of color.

The sad reality of it is, as black artists in the industry, we still have to work 10 times harder to get our voices out there.

There are tons of talented people out there, and we just don't get a chance to get into this system. I want to be a part of that. I want to help these young, diverse, unique voices tell stories.

There are just so many brilliant voices out there. I'm not the funniest person out there, I'm not the best interviewer. I'm not the best at anything, but I really just am a big fan of everyone. I'm really driven by trying to make sure that representation is out there.