“Being a ‘good man’ is something you do, not something you are.”
― Luvvie Ajayi
“People are prospering from being unapologetically offensive, trite, and stupid. And we are tweeting ourselves into high blood pressure and ulcers trying to tell them to do better… Being a pompous nut biscuit is now a publicity strategy, and I don’t know what we can do to end the madness.”
― Luvvie Ajayi
“Never underestimate the power of confidence. If you believe you’re the dopest thing walking, you might convince people of the same just because you’re so headstrong about it as a fact.”
― Luvvie Ajayi
“I am not the best. I don’t have to be. I am enough.”
― Luvvie Ajayi
“Being able to live without having to be defined by your skin color is the hallmark of privilege.”
― Luvvie Ajayi
“I have no love for those who consider themselves ‘good people’ but stand idly by as the world crumbles around them. It’s not enough to personally not do damage. If you’re present as someone else destroys what’s around you and you do nothing, you helped them.”
― Luvvie Ajayi
“People need to seek out some diversity in their life. One of my friends is a pig farmer in Michigan, and even she has black friends. She’s in the middle of nowhere – the closest airport is, like, three hours away – and she manages to connect with black people.”
― Luvvie Ajayi
“You can’t just set the vision, take a nap, and not keep working on making your vision happen. Your intention has to be backed by work.”
― Luvvie Ajayi
“Good friends are often our lifelines. Mine have seen me through heartbreak, through the deaths of loved ones, and through that phase in college when I was obsessed with denim jumpsuits and matching fingerless gloves.”
― Luvvie Ajayi
“Being conscious of Global Blackness is knowing that we are not an island of our struggle but a nation of our triumphs. That’s blackness to me.”
― Luvvie Ajayi
“I am a firm believe in the power of dreams, because the world is basically one giant realization of people’s collective dreams come true. We need to dream to aspire to do something that keeps us striving. But those dreams and ideas and wants mean nothing without execution, which doesn’t usually happen without a plan.”
― Luvvie Ajayi
“’Imposter Syndrome’ is the feeling of wearing a mask and playing a role that one does not feel at home in. It is when you feel like you or your work is a fluke and that you’re a dwarf amongst giants. Many of us have this, especially when we’re in some sort of creative industry.”
― Luvvie Ajayi
“The most glaring aspect of white privilege is that when someone is described neutrally – without indicating color or ethnicity – more often than not, people will assume that the person is white. That assumption indicates an uncomfortable truth: in our society, whiteness determines humanity.”
― Luvvie Ajayi
“Humor is this great equalizer. It gets people’s defenses down, and once they’re down, you can discuss some really difficult topics.”
― Luvvie Ajayi
“Fear has a very concrete power of keeping us from doing and saying the things that are our purpose.”
― Luvvie Ajayi
“Avoidance has never been a great tactic in solving any problem. For most situations in life, not addressing what’s going on only makes matters worse.”
― Luvvie Ajayi
“I need to sleep more. The ‘sleep when I die’ mantra is not cute.”
― Luvvie Ajayi
“I want to create a TV show that people will watch and say, ‘Hey, I have a favorite character,’ or ‘Hey, that person reminds me of myself,’ or ‘Hey, I’ve made some of those same mistakes, or those are some of the things I’ve dealt with.’”
― Luvvie Ajayi
“Fire Yourself. Outsource some of your life. Because you know what won’t be cute on a tombstone? ‘Her grind was impeccable, and she did it all by herself.’”
― Luvvie Ajayi
“Working 16-hour days to ensure that I can pay my bills has been a bulk of my entrepreneurship life. And on days when I don’t, odds are I’m running to the airport.”
― Luvvie Ajayi
“People think you can find a mentor by walking up to somebody and saying, ‘Hey, be my mentor,’ or by sending an e-mail to someone you’ve never e-mailed before and saying, ‘Hey, I want you to mentor me.’ But, mentorship really happens in rooms that you’re actually in.”
― Luvvie Ajayi
“It took me a while to affirm the fact that I’m actually a really good writer. I couldn’t even call myself a writer with a straight face because I didn’t take my gift seriously.”
― Luvvie Ajayi
“I think that if everybody committed themselves to making a better world than how we found it, things would be much better than what they are.”
― Luvvie Ajayi
“The cool thing about the Internet now is it’s democratized platforms. Like, anybody can create a blog. Anybody can give themselves some type of place where their work is visible.”
― Luvvie Ajayi
“A book is not a short-term project. It’s essentially your baby, so it takes a lot of work.”
― Luvvie Ajayi
“Putting out a book is absolutely a lesson in vulnerability because it doesn’t matter how much of an audience you have. Some people who have giant audiences can’t sell books because those audiences don’t feel like they need to give them their money.”
― Luvvie Ajayi
“People love my voice because they say I say what they were thinking but dare not to say because they had a filter or a job.”
― Luvvie Ajayi
“Who needs soap operas now when we have social media timelines? Now you can get a similar drama fix by just paying attention to your friends and family members’ Facebook pages.”
― Luvvie Ajayi
“I knew exactly what I wanted to be when I grew up. I was like, ‘I’m going to be a doctor!’ Doctor Luvvie was the dream. I was Doc McStuffins before it was a thing.”
― Luvvie Ajayi
“My integrity is something I hold dear.”
― Luvvie Ajayi
“Telling the truth – telling thoughtful truths – should not be a revolutionary act. Speaking truths to power should not be sacrificial, but they are.”
― Luvvie Ajayi
“I want people to see my color and my culture written all over me, because I am proud of the skin I’m in. It is an important part of my identity. What I don’t want them to do is mistreat me because of it.”
― Luvvie Ajayi
“Chicago’s one of the most segregated cities in America. Everybody lives in their own silos and vacuums.”
― Luvvie Ajayi
“I feel like my career is to speak truth to power, and a lot of times, that sounds like troublemaking. If speaking truth is troublemaking, then yes, I will consider myself a professional at that.”
― Luvvie Ajayi
“I could write a whole other book called ‘I’m Judging You, America!’ I still might.”
― Luvvie Ajayi
“In a world that wants women to whisper, I choose to yell.”
― Luvvie Ajayi
“People use the guise of art, and artistic expression, to do all kinds of hateful things. It’s like Trump and everybody else using the guise of humor to say hateful things, the excuse being, ‘I was just being funny.’”
― Luvvie Ajayi
“I knew I was Yoruba and Nigerian for the first 9 years of my life. I did not become conscious of my color and all that came with it until I moved to the United States with my family.”
― Luvvie Ajayi
“Through my school years, I learned more about slavery, anti-black racism, and oppression in the U.S., and my blackness could no longer be an afterthought. I started wearing it proudly, and as my consciousness deepened, so did my love for black folks.”
― Luvvie Ajayi
“I am of the bridge generation that remembers life before social media permeated everything but cannot imagine life without it now.”
― Luvvie Ajayi
“In my workshops for young adults, the most important thing I emphasize is that anything posted online, no matter how private they think it is, is permanent.”
― Luvvie Ajayi
“Shoes are my love language, and women love shoes.”
― Luvvie Ajayi
“You can be tweeting strangers and saying, ‘Don’t say that,’ but are you saying that to your friends? How about your mom? Your boyfriend at the dinner table who says something homophobic? If you’re not saying the same things in person that you’re saying online, then what are your tweets doing?”
― Luvvie Ajayi
“When I set out to write ‘I’m Judging You,’ I wanted to create something that was both timely and timeless. But I didn’t know how timely this book would be until we, the people of the United States, elected a walking Cheeto to the highest office in the land on November 8, 2016.”
― Luvvie Ajayi
“Being quiet is comfortable. Keeping things the way they’ve been is comfortable. And all comfort has done is maintain the status quo.”
― Luvvie Ajayi
“I wasn’t the only person out there writing about pop culture and race, but I stayed true to my voice, and people felt attracted to that. They said it felt like they were having brunch with their best friend.”
― Luvvie Ajayi
“Under promise and over deliver. People will be pleasantly surprised that you gave more than they expected. And remember that there is always room for us to be better and do better. That’s what I am calling for. Not just everybody else – myself, too.”
― Luvvie Ajayi
“Do one thing today that scares you – and you already know what that is! – and go do it. Even if you just make one step toward it, it will help you look at the world differently.”
― Luvvie Ajayi
“That’s one thing brands are understanding is, I’m the blogger who’s not writing about fashion. I’m not writing about beauty. I’m not writing about gossip. I’m not writing about politics. I’m writing about all of that. I’m the person they can come to if they just want to reach people who care and have their fingers on pop culture.”
― Luvvie Ajayi
“If we don’t challenge each other to use our platforms for better than our niches or what our quote-unquote brand is, what are we doing as influencers? If we can’t activate our audiences at the times it’s important or needed, then what do we have these platforms for?”
― Luvvie Ajayi
“If a brand will shy away from you because you dare to say that black lives matter, that’s probably not a brand you want to work with anyway.”
― Luvvie Ajayi
“I think it’s important for service to be a part of your life instead of an option. It’s awesome to make it a point to do something that’s gonna make the world slightly better than you left it.”
― Luvvie Ajayi
“I’ve reached the point where people text me randomly for favors, like, ‘Hey can I pick your brain?’ People I haven’t talked to in years are asking for favors. It’s like, ‘Wow people really got some nerve.’”
― Luvvie Ajayi
“When people say things like, ‘Oh, I can’t find black or brown whatever position it is,’ I wanted to be clear that we exist in droves. When I tell people, ‘Hey, share your work, share your LinkedIn,’ it’s with the ultimate goal that somebody on that thread gets hired, or something positive happens.”
― Luvvie Ajayi
“As a freelancer, as a writer, and running my company, people have always tried to negotiate me down. Some might think that I might accept their offers because they think I don’t have many options. The truth is, I always have options available to me.”
― Luvvie Ajayi
“Sticking with your craft goes a long way in ensuring that you’ll be successful.”
― Luvvie Ajayi
“Doubt has purpose sometimes. If we don’t think our work is good enough, we strive to do better and be better. Which then makes us better because practice does just that.”
― Luvvie Ajayi
“I wish people were realer in talking about how leaps of faith don’t have to be taken without at least looking down first.”
― Luvvie Ajayi
“Unless life is one giant rap battle, you don’t need to freestyle your way to success.”
― Luvvie Ajayi
“What I sacrificed as I pursued my dreams was my comfort, not the lives of other people who looked to me to stay afloat. That alone freed me to take more risks, which did pay off in dividends. Having a safety net is an asset that most people do not have.”
― Luvvie Ajayi
“There are two types of people in this world: people who can be on time and Nigerians. I am in the latter group, and I confess to my inability to arrive anywhere punctually.”
― Luvvie Ajayi
“Find me someone who is Nigerian who is always on time for things that aren’t work-related, and I will find you a Tyrese quote that makes perfect sense. They might exist, but they sure are rare.”
― Luvvie Ajayi
“Toddlers are couthless. Lord. They are so couth-deficient. They’ll tell you, ‘Those shoes look like my nightmares’ without a second thought because your feelings don’t matter to them.”
― Luvvie Ajayi
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