Hi, guys, how are you? So good to see you guys, so you guys having a good night? I have to say that it’s such an honor to be here, it is, I’m so happy to be here, I’m like a nerd and brought my own speech but I hope it’s OK that I take this opportunity to really just spend with you guys and tell you a little bit about my story. I’m not an activist, I haven’t changed the world or led a campaign, I’m here to just tell you my path so that you hopefully can take something away from it because I don’t like being honest with — this is a truth — I don’t like being honest with press and interviews, I like being honest with you, directly, which is each and every one of you. Because I feel like I can and I’m just going to start with the basics, so I’m 21 and my mom had, my mom had me when she was 16. And I’m from Grand Prairie, Texas, and she worked four jobs and completely dedicated her life to making mine better. So, to me, she is the definition of a strong woman. And I love her so much. Because she’s taught me those values so much. Thank you. I have been acting my entire life and I have known since I was first on Barney, you know that purple dinosaur, he’s great. You guys are so motivated, I feel like I can say anything! When I was eleven, the point being is that when I was seven I wanted to be an actress and I wanted to live my dream. And when I was eleven I had a casting director tell that I wasn’t strong enough to carry my own show. And I’m sure all of you have been told that you don’t have what it takes and you may not be good enough and you don’t have enough people supporting you and you’ve been told all of these things when deep down it’sall you want to do. You want to be a part of something great. You want to make something great. And it does more than not the wind out of you and crushes you when people try to tell you that you’re not good enough. And it almost did for me but there was my mom next to me stronger than ever and she said the most important thing is to always trust in myself. If I have, if I’m doing something because I love it, I should do it because I love it and I believe that I can do it. So she told me to keep going, thank you, she told me and she taught me to turn the other cheek and let the credits, the critics be critics, and let us just trust ourselves. So for me, thank you, two years later, I got my own show and the first thought, the first thought wasn’t oh man, that girl when I was eleven said that I wouldn’t carry my own show and I did, I mean, I thought about that for a little bit, but I thought about what my mom said. My mom is like you have to trust yourself and I realized that if I didn’t believe that I could do it, I wouldn’t be able to be here. And I have, I’m going to say I live a very blessed life, I have so much to be thankful for and a lot of you are a big part of inspiring me because I don’t think you get it and maybe you’re not old enough, but you inspire me to be better and we should inspire each other to be better. I’m surrounded by people who are supposed to guide me and some of them have and others haven’t. They pressure me, there’s so much pressure, you’ve got to be sexy, you’ve got to be cute, you’ve got to be nice, you’ve got to be all these things! And I’m sure you can all relate, you all have the pressure that you have to deal with every day. I’m sure at school, at work, with friends, with parents, with family, parents, I know, sometimes with mine, they tell me what to wear, how to look, what I should say, how I should be. Until recently, I had given in to that pressure. I lost sight of who I was. I listened to the opinions of people and I tried to change who I am because I thought that others would accept me for it. And I realized I don’t know how to be anything but myself. And all I really want you to know is that you are changing the world, I’m not changing the world, you’re changing the world and that's amazing! Please, please just be kind to each other and love and inspire people because let’s do it! Let’s do it, let’s change the game, let's change the game! The most important thing is that we learn and we continue to learn from each other. Please stay true to yourself, please just remain who you are and know that we have each other’s back, all of us have each other back. I’d be lying if I said that I never tried to make myself better by giving in, because I have, but I’ve learned from my actions, and for all of the things I’ve done I’m proudest of that I’ve learned from my mistakes. I want you to know what it’s like that Iknow what it’s like. Figuring out what types of friends you have, you are who you surround yourself with. So I just want to say I hope I can inspire each and every one of you to just trust in yourselves, to love and to be loved, and thank you for allowing me to come up and ramble and talk to you guys because this is such a beautiful thing you’re doing. Be proud of yourself. This is great!
Thank you.
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