Girl Crush: Lupita Nyong'o - So About What I Said

It’s hard to believe it’s been less than a year since the world discovered the beautiful and talented Lupita Nyong’o. In case you’ve been living under a rock, Nyong’o first captivated the world with her star-turning role in 12 Years A Slave — a role that won her the Best Supporting Actress Oscar and officially marked 2014 as her year.

Nyong’o now has another accomplishment (well, two, actually!!) to add to her ever-growing resume: Glamour cover star and Woman of the Year. The star graces the magazine’s December issue and was honored this week at the annual Women of the Year ceremony. She thanked her family for raising her to see women as equals. And I especially loved what she had to say about true beauty…

I come from a loving, supportive family, and my mother taught me that there are more valuable ways to achieve beauty than just through your external features. She was focused on compassion and respect, and those are the things that ended up translating to me as beauty. Beautiful people have many advantages, but so do friendly people…I think beauty is an expression of love.

And when it comes to value and diversity…

To rely on the way you look is empty. You’re a pretty face—and then what? Your value is in yourself; the other stuff will come and go. We don’t get to pick the genes we want. There’s room in this world for beauty to be diverse.