Luvvie Ajayi

“People use the guise of art, and artistic expression, to do all kinds of hateful things. It's like Trump and everybody else using the guise of humor to say hateful things, the excuse being, 'I was just being funny.'”

“Putting out a book is absolutely a lesson in vulnerability because it doesn't matter how much of an audience you have. Some people who have giant audiences can't sell books because those audiences don't feel like they need to give them their money.”

“People think you can find a mentor by walking up to somebody and saying, 'Hey, be my mentor,' or by sending an e-mail to someone you've never e-mailed before and saying, 'Hey, I want you to mentor me.' But, mentorship really happens in rooms that you're actually in.”

“You can't just set the vision, take a nap, and not keep working on making your vision happen. Your intention has to be backed by work.”

“Who needs soap operas now when we have social media timelines? Now you can get a similar drama fix by just paying attention to your friends and family members' Facebook pages.”

“What I sacrificed as I pursued my dreams was my comfort, not the lives of other people who looked to me to stay afloat. That alone freed me to take more risks, which did pay off in dividends. Having a safety net is an asset that most people do not have.”

“Working 16-hour days to ensure that I can pay my bills has been a bulk of my entrepreneurship life. And on days when I don't, odds are I'm running to the airport.”

“When people say things like, 'Oh, I can't find black or brown whatever position it is,' I wanted to be clear that we exist in droves. When I tell people, 'Hey, share your work, share your LinkedIn,' it's with the ultimate goal that somebody on that thread gets hired, or something positive happens.”

“Our privileges are the things not within our own control that push us forward and move us ahead from that starting line. Acknowledging them does not mean you are admitting to doing something to contribute to someone's else oppression. It means that you recognize that some part of your identity puts you in a better position than others.”

“I knew I was Yoruba and Nigerian for the first 9 years of my life. I did not become conscious of my color and all that came with it until I moved to the United States with my family.”

“The cool thing about the Internet now is it's democratized platforms. Like, anybody can create a blog. Anybody can give themselves some type of place where their work is visible.”

“I am a firm believe in the power of dreams, because the world is basically one giant realization of people's collective dreams come true. We need to dream to aspire to do something that keeps us striving. But those dreams and ideas and wants mean nothing without execution, which doesn't usually happen without a plan.”

“I think it's important for service to be a part of your life instead of an option. It's awesome to make it a point to do something that's gonna make the world slightly better than you left it.”

“The most glaring aspect of white privilege is that when someone is described neutrally - without indicating color or ethnicity - more often than not, people will assume that the person is white. That assumption indicates an uncomfortable truth: in our society, whiteness determines humanity.”

“I feel like my career is to speak truth to power, and a lot of times, that sounds like troublemaking. If speaking truth is troublemaking, then yes, I will consider myself a professional at that.”

“Do one thing today that scares you - and you already know what that is! - and go do it. Even if you just make one step toward it, it will help you look at the world differently.”

“My integrity is something I hold dear.”

“I wish people were realer in talking about how leaps of faith don't have to be taken without at least looking down first.”

“I am not the best. I don't have to be. I am enough.”

“I want people to see my color and my culture written all over me, because I am proud of the skin I'm in. It is an important part of my identity. What I don't want them to do is mistreat me because of it.”