When you're aware, from a young age, of how something plays in public, it makes you a young entrepreneur, whether you like it or not. I call most teenagers 'young entrepreneurs' because from a young age we're aware that our social media is building our brand. And if, when you're 13, you're concerned with building your brand, then "like" disparities matter.

Yara Shahidi

One thing I've always been concerned about is the objectification of women in ads, and that's one thing where I was like, 'Well, if I become a part of advertising, I could change that.'

Yara Shahidi

always advertising women change

When you are in the public eye as a person of color, you are given very little room to mess up.

Yara Shahidi

person you color eye

When you're biracial, you can feel like you're fully neither, not fully both. But I won't strip away my heritage for anyone's comfort.

Yara Shahidi

feel you heritage comfort

L.A. is great, but it's a completely different beast. I go back to Minnesota, and I borrow a bike from my neighbor and go around Lake Harriet saying 'Hi' to people. Some of that is missing in L.A.

Yara Shahidi

saying great bike people

I'm double majoring in social studies - which is sociology, anthropology, economics, and philosophy - and African-American studies.

Yara Shahidi

double economics sociology philosophy

Never jeopardize who you are for a role. Now, I'm not saying you should never change for a role, because the fun of being different characters is adapting different nuances and different parts of the character, but never jeopardize your moral compass or anything like that to have a role.

Yara Shahidi

you change fun character

I really love acting, but I also really want to be a historian, so it's really confusing.

Yara Shahidi

confusing acting want love

My friends always laugh because I'm the kind of person who bought the Brooks Brothers school skirt, even though it's not my school's uniform skirt, but just because I liked it. I'm a knee-high socks kind of person.

Yara Shahidi

uniform laugh friends school

I feel comfortable putting my political stances out there without feeling as though I am filling some sort of quota. I don't have a wokeness quota for the day.

Yara Shahidi

i-am feel feeling day

I have the support of my parents and my teachers. They made it very possible for me to go to a school that is open and supportive of me being gone at times and pursuing acting. But school always comes first for me.

Yara Shahidi

parents me support school

I have so many pairs of oxfords; it's ridiculous. It started because at my school you have to wear oxfords for our uniform, but after I got my first pair, I realized they were really comfortable, so they became my regular walking shoes, too.

Yara Shahidi

you shoes walking school

Being homeschooled for half of my life allowed me to choose my own curriculum and find things I really enjoy, and that's kind of inspired me. I've always been intrigued in or interested in the topics I've been covering.

Yara Shahidi

my-life me enjoy life

Maintaining a sense of your personality grounds you in your space. I try and just make what I wear a reflection of how I feel at that moment, at that particular place in time.

Yara Shahidi

moment you personality time

If you look at the history of art and fashion, it's always been political. It's always been pushing boundaries.

Yara Shahidi

you fashion history art

My mama is African American and from Wisconsin. My baba was born in Iran. My parents have stressed the idea of creating your own path, and creating your own identity is part of that. That's why embracing these two cultures is important to me.

Yara Shahidi

parents me identity path

I'm louder and bigger with my curls. There's power in that. Also, straight hair is kind of annoying. It gets caught in my collar.

Yara Shahidi

straight annoying power hair

I was in Minnesota, where I was born, and I did print ads and commercials. And that was always cool 'cause when you're little, you can only work two hours a day, and it changes.

Yara Shahidi

day cool you work

Scenes change all the time. Scenes will change while you're shooting them, and you just have to roll with it 'cause that's what makes it funny. It's not being stuck in your character and how you're gonna do something, but to react to other people and to really have a real-life conversation.

Yara Shahidi

change time character funny

When we moved to L.A., I started going out for more commercials, and then one day they emailed me a movie script. The first thing I said was, 'No way. I love commercials.'

Yara Shahidi

day me love way

I've been shy twice. Once when I saw Matthew Bomer and once when I saw Adam Levine. I couldn't say anything, literally.

Yara Shahidi

twice say anything shy