Joy Bryant Quotations

Black people, we are not this monolithic group, you know?

In the mid-nineties, diversity in the fashion/beauty business was hard to come by.

What inspired me most was the resilience of the Cambodian people. The country is still living with the trauma of the brutal Khmer Rouge regime. People lost everything - family, friends. The rich culture of Cambodia was nearly extinguished. They are a nation of survivors. And while poverty and infant mortality affect a disproportionate amount of the people there, those I met were hopeful for the future and doing the best they can with what they had.

For instance, people who have to walk miles for water - and we just turn on the faucet and let it run. Or people right here in our country [USA] who are food insecure, and yet we as a nation throw out an inconceivable amount of food.

My grandmother instilled in me two important lessons: I was just as good as anyone else, and education was my salvation. Fortunately, I was able to get scholarships to excellent schools, but I was one of the lucky ones. All of this is what draws me to anti-poverty organizations like Oxfam.

We live in a country [USA] where the belief is that anyone can succeed, but for so many here, and for the majority of the world, that's not the case. In many parts of the world, women and poor people are at a huge disadvantage - certain rights and protections don't exist, and they don't have the chance of upward mobility.

Being involved with Oxfam has really opened my eyes to the world at large and the suffering of others. But my background and my life experience are what have allowed me to understand how interconnected we all are. I believe one person suffering reverberates throughout the world.

It's been encouraging to hear the pope talking about climate change and take it away from being a political issue to being one of survival.

Mindfulness of the resources we have and respect for where we live, eat, and sleep is a good starting point. Being conscious of your consumption, what goes in and out, will help cut down on wastefulness.

Acknowledgement: Understanding and compassion for others and their suffering is the next step. Put yourself in the shoes of people who don't have the luxury of being wasteful.

Failure isn't really an option because, as my grandmother used to say, "Nothing beats a failure but a try."

I grew up in the South Bronx, raised by my grandmother, who scrapped and scraped to make sure I had a roof over my head and food in my stomach. I was painfully aware of what it was like to live with limited resources and a certain level of uncertainty.

Donate time, food, or money to organizations that fight the good fight. We can act individually for the collective good. We can all do something.

I never wanted to be the person who said, "I woulda, coulda, shoulda." Life is way too short, and you may not last that long.

I love the look of buffed nails. They look neat and chic without actually having to paint your nails-and it takes no time!

In the mid-nineties, diversity in the fashion/beauty business was hard to come by.

You have to move to your own beat.

It feels good to know you contributed positively to another's life, to their happiness, to their survival. It gives us a sense of purpose.

I don't have children of my own so I can't say I know the plight of being a parent, but I can kinda understand some of the complexities of it.

You can't improvise if you are tense. Or thinking too much. You have to really let it go.

Following your own vision is one of the only things that will sustain you.

I hate Christmas, really. I don't really give presents away or expect any.

Camo never goes out of style as far as I'm concerned.

I've always said that if anything - whether it was film or television - was something I responded to, then I was open to it.

When you empower women and help them thrive, you help their communities thrive. Women shoulder the burden disproportionately.

With all this talk of Going Green, Buying Green, Living Green, and Green being the new whatever, I've come to realize that, although we had no green, my grandmother was actually the 'greenest' person I've ever known.

I kind of do high-low style a lot.

I love flowy hippie dresses.

I think when you're in love with someone, it reveals a lot about yourself. You either rise to your highest highs or you stoop to your lowest lows.

When I was younger, I was one of the few girls in the neighborhood who could break dance. That's kind of my local, ghetto-celebrity claim to fame.

If it gets to the point where I actually physically cannot have a child, there's plenty of children in the world that need a stable home and loving parent. I'm so down for adoption.

My husband's a stunt man, and he dragged me to stunt driving school with him because I hate driving and he felt that it would help to make me feel more comfortable. And it did in certain ways, and in certain ways I'm still not.

You have to move to your own beat. There will be times when no one believes in you or understands what you're doing and why you are doing it. The most important thing is for you to believe in you. Following your own vision is one of the only things that will sustain you. And failure isn't really an option because.

Sometimes, we are dealing with our own troubles and feel that we don't have the resources to help one another. Or simply, we just don't know what to do.

Life doesn't always end up with a bow wrapped around it.

Women are the harshest critics of other women.