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" I have immigrant, African parents. They would say, in their Nigerian accents, 'So you want to be a jester?' And I was like, 'I don't want to be a court jester, Ma. I want to be a comedian.' "

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" Comedy's the ultimate pill that helps the really hard truths and hard facts go down, right? "

" 'First Gen' is kind of the ode to my parents and to really all immigrant children who come here with kind of a preemptive expectation placed on them, and then they get there, and they realize the American dream is bigger than, sometimes, what our parents dreamt. "

" I had my masters in public health, and the goal was to be a doctor, and organic chemistry let me know that that was not going to happen, as did my fear of blood. "

" I believe in the equal and opposite: If I exist, there is an equal and opposite version of me, and so however long I have to wait, and wherever he happens to be, we'll find it. Sometimes it's like, 'Jesus, where he at?' "

" There's a lot of negative speak about what it means to be an immigrant. I'm like, 'OK, I don't know where that came from.' We do the dirty jobs. We do the good jobs. We get the job done. "

" For me, staying ready has always been, like, the preparations: do the behind-the-scenes or do what you think that's not sexy that nobody will see, but when they do see it, it's like, 'Oh, snap... what she's doing on her own, we'll add to that, and it'll blow up.' "

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" A lot of people have done things in the name of Christianity and religion and faith in a not-so-nice way. "

" You turn 'Insecure' on, and you see a sea of brown. You see at the core of it a strong friendship between two brown-skinned girls. "

" I'll probably always opt for makeup because I just like the way it feels. You can play with it and create different looks, and I think that's fun. But I also want the option to not need it. "

" I think there is this narrative that if you are a black woman, and you are strong, and you are educated, it's like, 'Good luck getting a black man.' "

" By the time I got to George Washington University, I had been a straight-A student in high school. "

" I want to do more good work. That's very much my parents' influence in me. "

" It's great for people to give out of the kindness of their hearts, but because we're in a consumerist society, it's also great to have the opportunity to give and get. "

" I was looking around this room, this sea of industry folk. If I had have worn black and white, somebody would have asked me to get them a cocktail; the only other people of colour there were servers. "

" Black girls can make the best girlfriends. "

" A lot of times, especially in the black community, where therapy is talked about, it's like, 'Just go to church.' "

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" New York is a walking city, so you'll be dressed to the nines, and you'll go out, and you feel more special and more pretty because more people acknowledge you. "

" I remember talking to old-school African American grandpops, and they're just like, 'When I saw my wife, I looked up from across the street, and I said, 'That girl gon' be my wife someday.' And we've been married 45 years.' Like, what? That's all it took? "

" My father just instilled in me that either you're going to be No. 1 or nothing at all. "

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" I grew up in a place called Port Harcourt, Nigeria, the youngest of four. What I remember most about Nigeria was the ease. I would play by the pool, have fun with friends. "

" You can't tell me no, because you can't tell Jesus no. It doesn't work. "

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" There's this idea if you are a woman of colour, that you must never let them see you break down. That we've got to show ourselves in the best light, always, as the 'Strong Black Women' and bring that 'black girl magic' all the time. "

" Any show that speaks to people of color feels the burden to never mess up, never make its characters look bad - to always get it right. "

" I grew up with three older brothers, so I'm very much a tomboy in real life. "

" I came to America when I was six. In true African form, my parents wanted me to be a doctor or lawyer or engineer. "

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" Wanda Sykes and I have had similar career trajectories. We're both from the D.C. area. She spent five years working as a contracting specialist for the NSA, and I got my master's in public health. "

" I believe in being diligent but also cut yourself some slack. It's okay in the grand scheme of life. "

" I love a dark brown blush, like brown on brown. "

" I was so focused on advancing in my career that I didn't have enough emotional capacity for dating. "