Quotes About Representation

There's this perception that there's a pipeline problem for women and people of color. I don't buy into that. I think we have a broken doorbell problem, and there are plenty of women and people of color standing at the doorstep trying to get in the door, and nobody's opening it.

One of the things about New York City is obviously it's a very liberal place but there are plenty of conservatives that don't feel particularly well represented by Chuck Schumer or Kirsten Gillibrand.

People always say, 'There are plenty of black country artists out there! There is Charley Pride! Darius Rucker!' That's all they can name. They don't understand what we go through, and a lot of people who are fans of traditional country music, as they call it, look at us and aren't going to say, 'Y'all like country music.'

There are plenty of Muslim women who are backbones of the community, but they aren't usually at the forefront. There just aren't a lot of me out there - women in hijabs, doing what I do.

I know some brands second-guess working with me because I'm a boy that likes makeup. I think brands shouldn't just appreciate boys that wear makeup, but they should embrace it. And I feel like some brands forget they need personality. I have plenty of it.

Traditionally in crime fiction, women exist as a bedroom convenience or to screw up in order that the plot may progress. I wanted no part of that.

My parents and I always look at movies and just think, 'What's missing?' from the plot to the people of color or diversity in general.

Every time I write 'Stephanie Plum', it's going to be Katherine Heigl's face there.

I think it's just that the fashion industry can only accept one thing at a time. It's like, 'OK, well, if we're going to add plus, then let's keep it hourglass and white.'

There aren't often plus size, very real normal women in film. It's never their story.

I really don't think we should label models as 'plus' or 'runway.'

The term 'plus size' is so inaccurate. I'm not plus size; I have never bought an article of clothing that was plus size.

When companies are jumping on the bandwagon to do plus size, they limit themselves.

Casting plus size girls needs to be genuine.

The majority of my following is not plus size, it's very diverse.

I feel like any single woman of color who's been onstage has a Shakespeare monologue in her back pocket, and a monologue from 'For Colored Girls.' It's just part of what you should have, as a woman of color.

That's kind of the challenging thing about writing an inaugural poem. You're speaking to everyone, but you don't also want to speak for everyone.

In 'Blindspotting' I play a girl from Oakland, I've got an accent, I've got long, '90s 'Poetic Justice' braids, and in 'Monsters and Men' I play a girl from Brooklyn.

The historical legacy of 'The Best American Poetry' is they've had very few editors who were not white. They've had very few instances where they've selected poems by non-white poets.

I don't understand why any country is given a chance to make its point of view seen and heard by the world, and Russia is not given that chance.

Women should be able to come out and narrate stories from their point of view.

This is my point of view, and that's why I call the show 'Ramy'. I made the show that I would want to see. So it's only going to hit on certain things.

I have hidden my race for 22 books. I have hidden behind my married name, which is very Caucasian, because I didn't feel safe coming out with it. I didn't feel that the market would really accept me. I think I felt it's time to start bringing in an Asian-American point of view.

I feel like I've been observed as an individual more than a gay person, or as a filmmaker with a certain point of view rather than a lesbian filmmaker with a gay point of view.