Quotes About Diversity

I've always loved American stand-up. Richard Pryor is one of the main reasons I got into stand-up. After Pryor, I made my way through the other great American comics, then finally got into the British ones over here.

My creativity for making women feel beautiful is one of the reasons I love being Latina. Just making people feel more attractive was always a goal of mine; the creativity - I think it has a lot to do with my culture as well.

There are lots of different reasons to choose roles.

When I first ran for City Council in 2013, I was told over and over again that I would likely lose, and for reasons beyond my control: I was too young, not born in Boston, Asian American, female.

We are all put in different positions for different reasons.

Often, as a young actress, you find yourself being the only girl in a room full of men... and one of the reasons why I like 'Grey's Anatomy' is because they have such strong female characters and the women really drive this show.

One of the reasons that I do a lot of different kinds of pictures is because I learn a lot when I'm doing them.

I was raised fundamentalist Christian, and now I'm not that. It was not an act of rebellion or anything. For me, it was about being in a line of work where I was meeting so many different people and feeling like they all had legitimate points of view that I needed to consider and occasionally these were at odds with ideas that I was raised with.

I am a rebellious North Indian girl and I was not sure if I would have said yes to a film like 'Rajma Chawal' if it would not be from South as it allows me to challenge myself.

That is who my people are - the oddballs, the rebels, and the geeks. That's what I am, so it's what I naturally feel connected to.

You just don't want to get pigeon-holed into one position. That's why even though I start out at center, I may play small forward, if I get a rebound and you're not there I can bring the ball up.

Like the Caribbean Windrush generation, my parents came to this country from the Commonwealth in the 1960s. They, too, came to help rebuild this country and offer all that they had.

I want to write more books, see my first novel made into a film, fight more campaigns, work in more countries. I want to be able to recall experiences that have endured for their pleasure and range and intensity.

I can recall an instance where I was in a meeting at work giving a presentation in front of my board of directors. I was taking questions at the end and someone asks, 'Is that your hair real?' The man then reached out and started stroking my hair. It was completely bizarre to me.

When I was a kid, there were hardly any gay story lines or characters on television that I recall. Then when I was in college, 'Will & Grace' started up.

America became great through immigrants... I hope that this great country will recall what has made it great.

You only think about things when you see people doing it. Most girls know now they can be lawyers. They know that they can work in an emergency room - they've seen 'ER.' But I don't recall that anyone has seen scientists on a large scale, except for a few paleontologists in 'Jurassic Park.'

Not too long after 'OITB' debuted, I was at NewFest and I saw 'Black Is Blue,' a short film by Cheryl Dunye about a Black trans man trying to make it in Oakland. It was the first time I could recall seeing a Black trans man on screen and this was in 2015.

Nationally, overwhelmingly non-white schools receive $1,000 less per pupil than overwhelmingly white schools.

Companies must put infrastructure in place to support their female employees and ensure that they receive the benefits of male and female leadership.

We must ensure not only that everyone receives equal pay for equal work, but that they have the opportunity to do equal work.

PWR BTTM isn't the only queer rock band. We've been lucky to receive a platform. If you go on Bandcamp and search for 'queer rock,' you can find 150,000 bands that you could love more than PWR BTTM.

In Maryland, I didn't grow up around poor white people. Where I grew up, the white people were middle class or upper-middle class. It's interesting how screwed up it is in reality, because most people who receive assistance from the government are white, but not in my head or in my experience.

There are certain performers that the gay community receives and recognizes with love, and my whole life, I've always responded to those same artists.