Quotes
“ I never thought of being blind as a disadvantage, and I never thought of being black as a disadvantage. I am what I am. I love me! ”
— Stevie Wonder
Music Male Role Models Disabled Black He / Him · Pronounced: STEE-vee WUN-der
He / Him · Pronounced: STEE-vee WUN-der
Source: The Guardian interview · original link to be verified
Widely credited to this person; primary source not yet confirmed.
Context Wonder, who has been blind since shortly after birth, on refusing to see either part of who he is as a limitation.
Read More: Disability Rights
“ Everybody supports women until a woman's doing better than you. ”
— Sofia Isella
Music Women She / Her · Pronounced: soh-FEE-uh ih-SEL-uh
She / Her · Pronounced: soh-FEE-uh ih-SEL-uh
Widely credited to this person; primary source not yet confirmed.
Context A single standout line from Isella's song, included as a narrow exception to the site's no-lyrics rule for standalone, aphoristic statements.
“ I am Puerto Rican, I am Caribbean, and my music, my culture, my country's history run through my veins, from plena to reggaeton. ”
— Bad Bunny
Music Latinx He / Him · Pronounced: BAD BUN-ee
He / Him · Pronounced: BAD BUN-ee
Source: TIME interview · original link to be verified
Widely credited to this person; primary source not yet confirmed.
Context Bad Bunny on the musical lineage running through his own work.
Read More: Latinx Voices
“ It's an artist's duty to reflect the times in which we live. ”
— Nina Simone
Music Women Black She / Her · Pronounced: NEE-nuh sih-MOHN
She / Her · Pronounced: NEE-nuh sih-MOHN
Context Simone on the artist's responsibility to their times, which she lived through the civil-rights era.
“ Growing up in the Western world, there are so many times where I'm like, Oh, I'm not white. My name is not that easy to say. I'm not as relatable as a white person. ”
— Rina Sawayama
Music Women Asian LGBTQ+ She / Her · Pronounced: REE-nuh sah-wah-YAH-mah
She / Her · Pronounced: REE-nuh sah-wah-YAH-mah
Widely credited to this person; primary source not yet confirmed.
Context Sawayama on growing up feeling caught between cultures in the UK.
Read More: LGBTQ+ Voices
“ I won't be a rock star. I will be a legend. ”
— Freddie Mercury
Music LGBTQ+ Global South He / Him · Pronounced: FRED-ee MER-kyuh-ree
He / Him · Pronounced: FRED-ee MER-kyuh-ree
Widely credited to this person; primary source not yet confirmed.
Context The Queen frontman on his own mythology; he was born in Zanzibar to Parsi parents.
Read More: LGBTQ+ Voices
“ You're trying to take all this misunderstanding and loathing, and you're trying to turn it into love, which is the wonderful thing that happens when you're trying to make music out of the rough, hard, bad things. ”
— Bruce Springsteen
Music Male Role Models He / Him · Pronounced: BROOSS SPRING-steen
He / Him · Pronounced: BROOSS SPRING-steen
Source: Esquire interview · original link to be verified
Widely credited to this person; primary source not yet confirmed.
Context Springsteen on what he's actually trying to do with the harder material in his songwriting.
“ Small changes end up making a big difference. It's about being a lot nicer to each other. It's just saying, 'Treat people with kindness.' ”
— Harry Styles
Music Male Role Models He / Him · Pronounced: HAIR-ee STYLZ
He / Him · Pronounced: HAIR-ee STYLZ
Context Styles on the origin of 'Treat People With Kindness', the phrase that became his own mantra and merchandise line.
“ I'll tell you what freedom is to me: no fear. ”
— Nina Simone
Music Women Black She / Her · Pronounced: NEE-nuh sih-MOHN
She / Her · Pronounced: NEE-nuh sih-MOHN
Context Simone's own definition of freedom, from a life spent refusing to be made small.
“ My anxiety and depression have ruled my life for as long as I can remember and I never leave the house because of it. ”
— Kid Cudi
Music Black He / Him · Pronounced: KID KOO-dee
He / Him · Pronounced: KID KOO-dee
Context Cudi's own words in the post explaining why he had checked into treatment.
“ I think ageing is an extraordinary process whereby you become the person that you always should have been. ”
— David Bowie
Music Male Role Models He / Him · Pronounced: DAY-vid BOH-ee
He / Him · Pronounced: DAY-vid BOH-ee
Widely credited to this person; primary source not yet confirmed.
Context Bowie, reflecting on growing older as becoming more truly himself rather than less.
“ People are just afraid of things too much. Afraid of things that don't necessarily merit fear. ”
— Frank Ocean
Music Black LGBTQ+ He / Him · Pronounced: FRANK OH-shun
He / Him · Pronounced: FRANK OH-shun
Widely credited to this person; primary source not yet confirmed.
Context Ocean, who came out via an open letter before his 2012 album release, on fear.
Read More: LGBTQ+ Voices
“ For the longest time I was trying to be white and fit in, that's also fine at some points in your life, I had to do that to survive in certain spaces. ”
— Rina Sawayama
Music Women Asian LGBTQ+ She / Her · Pronounced: REE-nuh sah-wah-YAH-mah
She / Her · Pronounced: REE-nuh sah-wah-YAH-mah
Widely credited to this person; primary source not yet confirmed.
Context Sawayama on code-switching to survive spaces not built for her.
Read More: LGBTQ+ Voices
“ Wherever we are, this is home. Wherever I go, I'll always be Puerto Rican. ”
— Bad Bunny
Music Latinx He / Him · Pronounced: BAD BUN-ee
He / Him · Pronounced: BAD BUN-ee
Widely credited to this person; primary source not yet confirmed.
Context Bad Bunny on identity and belonging as a Puerto Rican artist.
Read More: Latinx Voices
“ I can't wake you up. You can wake you up. I can't cure you. You can cure you. ”
— John Lennon
Music Male Role Models He / Him · Pronounced: JON LEN-un
He / Him · Pronounced: JON LEN-un
Context Lennon, in one of his final major interviews, on the limits of what anyone else can do for you.
“ The single story creates stereotypes, and the problem with stereotypes is not that they are untrue, but that they are incomplete. ”
— Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie
Literature Women Black She / Her · Pronounced: chee-mah-MAHN-dah en-GOH-zee ah-DEE-chee
She / Her · Pronounced: chee-mah-MAHN-dah en-GOH-zee ah-DEE-chee
Context From her TED talk, on how one-dimensional narratives flatten whole peoples.
Read More: Black Literature Their Story Nigerian novelist and essayist whose books, including 'Half of a Yellow Sun' and 'Americanah', are read worldwide. Her TEDx talk 'The Danger of a Single Story' and essay 'We Should All Be Feminists' brought her ideas to an audience well beyond literary fiction.
'We Should All Be Feminists' is a short, direct entry point before the novels. See Their Full Story
“ I'm naturally a quiet guy, but I work hard and I try to earn the respect from my teammates through my dedication and my hard work. ”
— Eli Manning
Sport Male Role Models He / Him · Pronounced: EE-ly MAN-ing
He / Him · Pronounced: EE-ly MAN-ing
Context Manning, on the quiet, steady leadership style he built his career on rather than seeking the spotlight.
“ If it wasn't for the Live Caption feature, I don't think our relationship would have blossomed. ”
— Matthew Johnston
Technology Disabled He / Him · Pronounced: MATH-yoo JON-stun
He / Him · Pronounced: MATH-yoo JON-stun
Context Johnston, Thoughtworks' Global Disability Inclusion Lead, on how live-captioning technology helped him build the relationship with his now-wife.
Read More: Disability Rights
“ We need in every community a group of angelic troublemakers. ”
— Bayard Rustin
Activism Black LGBTQ+ He / Him · Pronounced: BY-erd RUSS-tin
He / Him · Pronounced: BY-erd RUSS-tin
Widely credited to this person; primary source not yet confirmed.
Context Rustin organised the 1963 March on Washington.
Read More: Black Activism
“ Education is the most powerful weapon which you can use to change the world. ”
— Nelson Mandela
Education Black Global South He / Him · Pronounced: NEL-sun man-DEL-ah
He / Him · Pronounced: NEL-sun man-DEL-ah
Widely credited to this person; primary source not yet confirmed.
Context A line Mandela used often, on education as the route out of poverty and division.
“ It's the little things citizens do. That's what will make the difference. ”
— Wangari Maathai
Activism Women Black Global South She / Her · Pronounced: wahn-GAH-ree mah-THY
She / Her · Pronounced: wahn-GAH-ree mah-THY
Widely credited to this person; primary source not yet confirmed.
Context Kenyan environmentalist and Nobel Peace Prize laureate.
Read More: Black Activism Their Story Kenyan environmentalist and the first African woman to win the Nobel Peace Prize, in 2004. She founded the Green Belt Movement in 1977, which has since organised the planting of tens of millions of trees across Kenya, led largely by women. She died in 2011.
Her memoir 'Unbowed' and her Nobel lecture are the fullest primary sources. See Their Full Story
