So, I'm one of those people who believes that we genuinely do not deserve Tracee Ellis Ross. My fascination with her rings true, as she proves time and time again that she is a walking deity in this shit, breaking out of the mold of the one thing that society tells us a black woman can be.
She has had one of the most drool-worthy upbringings (which she once compared to Blue Ivy), starred in two of the greatest sitcoms to hit television airwaves, has a high-profile, über successful business, and has one of the most banging energies (and bodies) in all of Hollywood. And she's a front-line advocate of 'teaching us all to get to know ourselves, to own our dreams and desires, to celebrate our individual paths, and to make space for people to follow their own paths too.'
How Tracee Ellis Ross manages to humbly offer some of the most unapologetic wisdom to the culture, I'll never know, but I damn sure welcome it.
Ross recently sat down with Glennon Doyle (Together Rising) for the Forbes Power Women Summit 2020, to discuss all the above. And the entire interview was brimming with top-tier advice, laughs, and quotables--just as we expected.
It opened with immediate nuggets, Doyle asking, "We have to do these things, we have to show up still, but how are you doing withthis 'COVID world'?" To which Ross answered beautifully:
"You know, even as we were setting up our tech for this, [I thought], good enough can be good enough. I'm not always my favorite version of myself in this and I don't seem to have access to some of my favorite things in life. It's a conscious effort to really cultivate things that anchor me to myself, to joy, and to connection and collective energy, because I like that energy a lot."
Doyle and Ross who come across as old friends catching up on the woes of the world never missed a beat.
The ladies went on to chat about the importance of detaching their self-worth from others' opinions:
"Particularly for women, we have been raised in a patriarchal structure in which we are so busy seeing ourselves from the outside, not even through a loving friend's gaze, but through a judgmental man's gaze. That is so confusing. I've tried to be all of the different things and the truth is, I'm best at being me.
This rings true, particularly with Ross expressing her struggles of being pressured to operate on societal deadlines when it comes to being a wife and mother in the past--which she absolutely refuses to subscribe to.
"Finally, then came the journey of: how do I find the courage to actually be the person that I know I am, and then even maybe on some days like her?
"And even if I don't like her—and even if there's a favorite version of me and my not-favorite version of me and all these different kinds—how do I be kind to her, no matter what?"
Her bright smile, which feature a bomb red lip shined through as she finished:
"I feel like the truth of who I am, personally, is the truth of who I am professionally. I bring that same person, my same intentions, the same whole self goes into all of these aspects."
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