It was easy for me to show the films to the studio and the network and say, "This is who I'm hiring."

If your dream only includes you, it's too small.

Be passionate and move forward with gusto every single hour of every single day until you reach your goal.

Figure out what you need to do to be the heroine of your own story.

Don't wait for permission to do something creative.

If you're doing something outside of dominant culture there's not an easy place for you. You will have to do it yourself.

When you're in your lane, there's no traffic.

We have to find new ways to work without permission, new ways to turn corners and go through doors that are closed off to us to create our own audiences and our own material independently.

I've passed along some advice that Oprah [Winfrey] gave to me: When something bad is happening, it's not happening to you; it's happening for you.

Stop asking, start doing.

If your work is solid, it really doesn't matter what people you know because good work starts to rise to the top.

Explore those things you do that are satisfying

There is a definite process by which one made people into friends and it involved talking to them and listening to them for hours at a time.

I think original voices get noticed. But most importantly, I think you should have a story to tell.

I am a vegan out of my love and respect for animals, as well as respect for myself.

Poise: the ability to be ill at ease inconspicuously.

I bought almost every single thing that I furnished my house with at the Salvation Army in Hawaii. All second hand. Some of them are kind of retro, and some of them you'd never know.

Don't look back, because that's the sign of failure.

The spirits talk of many levels. It's not a physical level where you go up the steps to get to the next one. It's consciousness and how evolved spiritually you are.

The key is not to call the decision maker. The key is to have the decision maker call you.

Democracy is four wolves and a sheep voting on dinner.