A biography for Yvonne Orjihasn’t been written yet.
“For me, comedy was deftly terrifying.”
“On a man, I love Tom Ford's Tobacco Vanille. But I wear Orchid Soleil - I love a sweet smell.”
“'First Gen' is kind of the ode to my parents and to really all immigrant children who come here with kind of a preemptive expectation placed on them, and then they get there, and they realize the American dream is bigger than, sometimes, what our parents dreamt.”
“I was bullied because I have this thick Nigerian accent.”
“There are different types of experiences, and all of them are valid, and all of them deserve to be portrayed in a real way.”
“If I'm home on Wednesdays, I go to Bible study. I get my God time in, definitely.”
“I was supposed to be the doctor in my family.”
“A healthy smile has always been important to me.”
“You turn 'Insecure' on, and you see a sea of brown. You see at the core of it a strong friendship between two brown-skinned girls.”
“I like things to happen organically.”
“There's this idea if you are a woman of colour, that you must never let them see you break down. That we've got to show ourselves in the best light, always, as the 'Strong Black Women' and bring that 'black girl magic' all the time.”
“Over the years, my relationship with God has changed my life for the better - it's grown me up, given me a sense of purpose, and grounded me in my identity.”
“As strong as we are, we have our moments. My mama is an African woman who had four kids and was a nurse for 25 years, and she had her moments. I've seen her cry.”
“I used to work in public health, and the issues were sustainability, how the funds were being delineated, and if the funds were actually helping the people we think they're helping.”
“Wanda Sykes and I have had similar career trajectories. We're both from the D.C. area. She spent five years working as a contracting specialist for the NSA, and I got my master's in public health.”
“Sometimes you're just regular. Sometimes you wake up, and your breath stinks like everybody else, and you had a bad hair day.”
“I took organic chemistry, and I got my first-ever F. I ended up going to summer school, and the whole time, I'm thinking, 'I am not good at sciences.'”
“There are so many professional women who have to be this boss, but when they get home, it's like, 'Can someone take care of me? Can I not be so powerful?'”
“When it comes to black female comedians, it's like, if you're not overweight, are you funny? There's rules, like, you can't be skinny and pretty and funny. I'm all three, sorry to break it to you.”
“Getting into comedy was difficult for my parents to comprehend. I think now they are really proud I stuck to it.”