I have to say that it’s such an honour to be here, it is, I’m so happy to be here,
I’m like a nerd and brought my own speech but I hope it’s OK that I take this opportunity
to really just spend with you guys and tell you a little bit about my story.
I’m not an activist, I haven’t changed the world or led a campaign, I’m here to
just tell you my path, so that you hopefully can take something away from it, because I
don’t like being honest with — this is a truth — I don’t like being honest with
press and interviews, I like being honest with you, directly, which is each and every
one of you.
Because I feel like I can and I’m just going to start with the basics, so I’m 21 and
my mom had, my mom had me when she was 16.
And I’m from Grand Prairie, Texas, and she worked four jobs and completely dedicated
her life into making mine better.
So, to me, she is the definition of a strong woman.
And I love her so much.
Because she’s taught me those values so much.
Thank you.
I have been acting my entire life and I have known since I was first on Barney, you know
that purple dinosaur, he’s great.
You guys are so motivated, I feel like I can say anything!
When I was eleven, the point being is that when I was seven I wanted to be an actress
and I wanted to live my dream.
And when I was eleven I had a casting director tell that I wasn’t strong enough to carry
my own show.
And I’m sure all of you have been told that you don’t have what it takes and you may
not be good enough and you don’t have enough people supporting you and you’ve been told
all of these things when deep down it’s all you want to do.
You want to be a part of something great.
You want to make something great.
And it does more than not the wind out of you and crushes you when people try to tell
you that you’re not good enough.
And it almost did for me but there was my mom next to me stronger than ever and she
said the most important thing is to always trust in myself.
If I have, if I’m doing something because I love it, I should do it because I love it
and I believe that I can do it.
So she told me to keep going, thank you, she told me and she taught me to turn the other
cheek and let the credits, the critics be critics, and let us just trust ourselves.
So for me, thank you, two years later, I got my own show and the first thought, the first
thought wasn’t oh man, that girl when I was eleven said that I wouldn’t carry
my own show and I did, I mean, I thought about that for a little bit, but I thought about
what my mom said.
My mom is like you have to trust yourself and I realized that if I didn’t believe
that I could do it, I wouldn’t be able to be here.
And I have, I’m going to say I live a very blessed life, I have so much to be thankful
for and a lot of you are big part of inspiring me because I don’t think you get it and
maybe you’re not old enough, but you inspire me to be better and we should inspire each
other to be better.
I’m surrounded by people who are supposed to guide me and some of them have and others
haven’t.
They pressure me, there’s so much pressure, you’ve got to be sexy, you’ve got to be
cute, you’ve got to be nice, you’ve got to be all these things!
And I’m sure you can all relate, you all have pressure that you have to deal with every
day.
I’m sure at school, at work, with friends, with parents, with family, parents, I know,
sometimes with mine, they tell me what to wear, how to look, what I should say, how
I should be.
Until recently, I had given in to that pressure.
I lost sight of who I was.
I listened to opinions of people and I tried to change who I am because I thought that
others would accept me for it.
And I realized I don’t know how to be anything but myself.
And all I really want you to know is that you are changing the world, I’m not changing
the world, you’re changing the world and that’s amazing!
Please, please just be kind to each other and love and inspire people because let’s
do it!
Let’s do it, let’s change the game, let’s change the game!
The most important thing is that we learn and we continue to learn from each other.
Please stay true to yourself, please just remain who you are and know that we have each
other’s back, all of us have each other’s back.
I’d be lying if I said that I never tried to make myself better by giving in, because
I have, but I’ve learned from my actions, and for all of the things I’ve done I’m
proudest of that I’ve learnt from my mistakes.
I want you to know what it’s like that I know what it’s like.
Figuring out what types of friends you have, you are who you surround yourself with.
So I just want to say I hope I can inspire each and every one of you to just trust in
yourselves, to love and to be loved, and thank you for allowing me to come up and ramble
and talk to you guys because this is such a beautiful thing you’re doing.
Be proud of yourselves.
This is great!