Grace Gealey

I used to run around barefoot and climb trees and pick fruit and sell it on the side of the road like a real island girl. ”

I was raised by a single black deaf woman, so I am as independent as they come. ”

In society, we have to earn other things of import like trust, respect, money, education, careers, status and etc., so naturally, we find ourselves attempting to earn love, acceptance and validation along with that. Here's the trip: we do it at the cost of other people and, more importantly, ourselves. ”

Lift others and yourself as you rise above this mess of comparison. Thank God for those who embraced their true selves and gave us gifts that only they could give: from Steve Jobs to Michael Jackson to Ray Charles to Mark Twain. There are so many more, and the list goes on. ”

I'm a very spiritual person, and I believe in God and all that kind of stuff. So my perfect type of guy would be spiritually grounded, extremely respectful and funny because I love to laugh. ”

There were times when I was working three jobs at one time, and I was still auditioning just to make ends meet, and I was hoping that something was going to come through. Especially after you have two degrees, standing solid through the process is sometimes the hardest part because there is no guarantee. ”

My mother is Afro-Caribbean and my father is Caucasian-American, and I was born in Pennsylvania and moved to the Cayman Islands when I was about 2. So I grew up there with my mother, and it's really all I know. I grew up there until it was time to go to college, and that's when I moved back to America. ”

Connecting with people in person is so important. To look in the eyes of our girls and let them know that you really do support them transcends the impersonal connection of technology. ”

The best work we can ever do in this world is work on being the greatest version of ourselves so we can continue to give the highest version of this to others. ”

Instead of wanting to be better than other people, let's channel that energy to be better than we were yesterday and then again to be the best we can be tomorrow. ”