"Hopefully I can be part of the change I want to see."
From Disney star to making history as the youngest Emmy winner for lead actress in a drama, she’s shown that you’re never too young to speak up ... and dazzle the red carpet while you’re at it. This is the story of Zendaya.
From Disney star to making history as the youngest Emmy winner for lead actress in a drama, she’s shown that you’re never too young to speak up ... and dazzle the red carpet while you’re at it. This is the story of Zendaya.
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00:00Hopefully, I can be one of those people that can be a part of, I guess, the change I want to see.
00:06It sounds corny, but it is a true thing.
00:19Whatever inspiration I can provide and offer and doors I can open or whatever I can do, I'll definitely try to do it.
00:31My parents have always kind of, I guess, instilled in me from a very young age, you know,
00:35when something has gone wrong or when you see injustice in any form, you know,
00:41if somebody's being bullied or whatever, you know, you stand up and you use your voice and you don't just sit there.
01:00You've obviously broken into the industry, so what advice do you have for girls trying to break in?
01:29I would say, number one, surround yourself with positive people who are going to help you get to where you want to go.
01:34Two, make sure you really love what you're doing, because it's not going to be easy.
01:38There are going to be tough times, so you really have to make sure you have a passion for it.
01:41And three, go for it.
01:51When I first started dancing, I was horrible.
01:54I couldn't keep up with all the rest of the kids. It was really bad.
01:58But I worked my butt off and I got good.
02:01So, it just takes practice.
02:28For me, it's always been an inspiring thing, you know what I mean, when I see women of color in any kind of, you know, capacity,
02:40really doing their thing and working hard and, I don't know, excelling in their careers.
02:44So, I think for me, it's always been inspiring and I know I try to, you know, even though I'm 18, I think I always try to do that for the younger generation.
02:58We go hard!
03:00We go hard!
03:02We go hard!
03:04We go hard!
03:22I do want to say that, you know, this generation is, I think, the most open-minded, accepting
03:30kind of group that we have.
03:34I think it's because with social media and with everything, you can't really hide from certain topics anymore.
03:39You can't pretend that you don't see what people are going on, what's going on and what people are going through around the world, which is kind of nice.
03:45I think sometimes we tend to use social media for the wrong things.
03:48But when we do use it for the right things, I think it's extremely powerful.
03:52I think Rue, to me, what's so special about her character is that she is a full, whole human being and she's layered and she's complicated.
04:11And I think as the show goes on, you know, we're also able to empathize with addiction.
04:53I mean, I'm just grateful for moments like this.
04:55Moments where we can have joy and we can wrap our arms around our loved ones and tell each other we love each other and we're proud of each other.
05:04I think it's moments like this that we really have to all hold on to and cherish.
05:08I really just try to be the best version of myself to hopefully inspire somebody else to be the best version of themselves.