As a performer, the thing you want the most is to be your authentic self.
As for my role models... you know, I'm an immigrant, so we didn't grow up with too much TV. My parents were like, 'You must read your books.'
On a man, I love Tom Ford's Tobacco Vanille. But I wear Orchid Soleil - I love a sweet smell.
My faith - as well as my Nigerian culture - really gave me the substance and foundation to be who I desire to be in life.
Before 'Insecure,' I was a wedding emcee - a host for weddings. That's a world that a lot of people are not familiar with.
I can only see what's in front of me, but God can see what's behind, what's ahead of me, what's beside me, and it just makes it so much easier to release control, cuz at the end of the day, if He brought me to it, He's gonna have to bring me through it.
My father just instilled in me that either you're going to be No. 1 or nothing at all.
A healthy smile has always been important to me.
I took organic chemistry, and I got my first-ever F. I ended up going to summer school, and the whole time, I'm thinking, 'I am not good at sciences.'
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.'
I came to America when I was six. In true African form, my parents wanted me to be a doctor or lawyer or engineer.
A lot of people hustle differently, and I was like, 'You know what, let me hustle and create, and let me have something to show,' cuz my hustle led to opportunity.
High school is really when I came into my own.
Don't take it personally if you're met with opposition. Work hard anyway.
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.'
I grew up with three older brothers, so I'm very much a tomboy in real life.
What you see on TV is what you believe you can be.
Sometimes you are the only living, walking, breathing version of the Bible that people will ever see. What long-lasting taste are you going to leave in their mouths? A lot of people have left a bad taste. And it's so unfortunate, because God is the best!
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.
Sometimes you have to experience things for yourself to learn the lessons that you need to learn.
