Yara Shahid is no ordinary 21-year-old. The actor, model and activist has filmed with Angelina Jolie, she considers Michelle Obama a friend – and Oprah believes she’s a future US president. She’s truly a stellar woman! Still have doubts, these 10 quotes from her will erase all of them.
- “I don’t know everything. I know a fraction of what there is to know and I don’t think I will ever know everything, but it’s important to me to constantly challenge myself, to understanding different viewpoints, really understanding nuance in topics, so I can feel qualified in what I say, so I’m not preaching falsely of what I’m unaware of.”
- “There are two conflicting philosophies that I love: “Everything happens for a reason,” as well as “you can change everything that you have control over.””
- “What modelling taught me at a young age was how to say “no,” which is something girls – we’re not always good at saying “no.” We want to be nice, and then we forget to look out for ourselves. There have been moments when I was on a modelling job, and it was the most fantastic thing in the world. And there have been moments where I’ve realized, “Okay, I’m ten years old, and I’ve spent the past six hours outside in the rain.” It taught me how to be specific about what kinds of projects I wanted to do, and what kind of work I wanted to do.”
- “I’m louder and bigger with my curls. There’s power in that. Also, straight hair is kind of annoying. It gets caught in my collar.”
- “My trouble with defining activism is that it tells you what it’s not and activism is everything. For me, it comes through art: being intentional with the roles I choose, backing projects that are socially aware, or trying to push forward a progressive conversation, and public speaking is another method.”
- “There’s a lack of humanity that goes behind policy change — policies that make being a woman a pre-existing condition — and it’s because they aren’t thinking about who it affects, they’re thinking theoretically and tax break and money. And money isn’t human, we are human. The goal of my activism is to bring humanity back into humanity.”
- “My race is a huge part in forming who I am, and it gave me this rich heritage that I am grateful for, but there needs to be an understanding that you cannot then put me in certain boxes, or tell me what I can and cannot do – or what my peers can and cannot do – based on these pieces of identity.”
- I know, ultimately, I want to help effect change; otherwise, I would look at myself in the mirror every day and think, ‘What in the world am I doing with my life?’”
- “What’s so cool about my generation is that being socially aware is ingrained in who we are. It’s almost as though we were born with a debt to society to do our part, to be a part of this peer group that understands pretty immediately the idea that whatever we do has to benefit the greater good of humanity.”
- “There could be 10 people who look like me on a show, but they all got killed in the first scene. Or they’re all in jail. Or they’re all the best friend. Or they’re all the best friend . I want to see somebody who looks like me as the doctor and the criminal and the successful businessperson and the woman barely making a living. I want to see the spectrum.
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