At the end of the day, what I would hope comes out of this is that Aziz Ansari as a society … educate Aziz Ansari about what consent is — what it looks like, what it feels like, what it sounds like, i think there are both men and women who are still trying to figure it out.

Lena Waithe

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The only way you really see change is by helping to create it.

Lena Waithe

helping

You can talk all day long, but if you don't do something, it's a waste.

Lena Waithe

waste ifs long

My brand is good storytelling. I really want [my company] Hillman Grad Productions to be associated with great stories, interesting characters; things that are three-dimensional and feel honest.

Lena Waithe

want character interesting

I do think it's important for black writers to show that we too can make it into the mainstream. Growing up, I didn't just watch The Cosby Show, I watched Growing Pains and Family Ties too. We can tell those stories too.

Lena Waithe

growing-up pain thinking

Your first obligation as a writer is to tell the truth and to tell a good story.

Lena Waithe

telling-the-truth stories firsts

I think the stakes are always high when you're an artist of color - to get things right, to get things perfect and make everybody happy. But I'm not concerned with politicians and what they think. And I'm not always going to succeed. I'll have missteps, but I hope that people will be patient with the show and us and know that our intentions are good.

Lena Waithe

artist people thinking

I'm not in the business of making us look clean, but I don't want us to look like monsters either. I think there is a little bit of hero and villain in all of us.

Lena Waithe

villain hero thinking

I really want the sense of black people being interconnected: If you black and you from Chicago, there's a connective tissue we all have. Even if you're not blood related, that doesn't mean I can't look out for you.

Lena Waithe

black mean people

Today, you'll have a following for a film before it even hits theaters. We can reach out and touch our audience in ways that they couldn't. So it's about getting eyes, getting interest, and getting people involved.

Lena Waithe

eye today people

Most writers stick to what they know. The black experience is our experience, so it's not that challenging for us. That's why sometimes you'll see writers that start off telling black stories, but later branch out into other material. People say they "sell out." No, they evolve as writers.

Lena Waithe

black challenges people

I sort of knew very early on that I wanted to be a writer. Even in high school, I was a big movie buff, very much into TV shows, and would critique them.

Lena Waithe

tv-shows tvs school

I always want to challenge myself as a writer. I consider myself more of a writer than I do a director.

Lena Waithe

challenges want directors

I never like to do something that it feels like I've done before.

Lena Waithe

done feels

I'm proud to carry that torch and be like, 'I'm gay! I'm black! Hang your dreams on me. Hang your hopes on me. I'll carry them to the best of my ability.'

Lena Waithe

dreams best me black

If you think you aren't valid for whatever reason, let my existence and the way the world embraces my existence tell you that you are valid. You deserve to look, live, and walk through the world however you see fit. That's why I find it extremely important to be so out, so black, and so myself.

Lena Waithe

walk myself you black

I'm writing my story so that others might see fragments of themselves.

Lena Waithe

others story see writing

The things that make us different, those are our superpowers.

Lena Waithe

us make things different

Queer black characters have been the sidekick for long enough. It's time for us to finally take the lead.

Lena Waithe

black enough time long

For me, it's about making art that's not good but phenomenal. James Baldwin didn't want to just stay above the fray. Prince didn't think, 'I wonder what the industry is gonna think about 'Purple Rain.'' It's just, is this honest? Is this real? Does this move me? The rest is icing.

Lena Waithe

good me rain art

My family still lives in Chicago: my mother, my sister, my nephew, my family is there. So even though I am not living there, I feel very close to it, and I visit very often.

Lena Waithe

i-am feel family mother