Cynthia Erivo Encourages Black Women to Dream Big at Essence Awards: ‘I Got to Fly and Now the Skies Are Waiting for You Too’

variety.com:

Angelique Jackson As Cynthia Erivo accepted her honors at the Essence Black Women in Hollywood awards, she offered up words of affirmation for the Black women that filled the ballroom, encouraging everyone to dream big and to “take up space.” “I know that some of us in this room are still waiting for permission to be, to own every facet of what makes us, us.

Let me be the one to say, ‘Stop hiding,'” Erivo told the crowd, assembled at the Fairmont Century Plaza Hotel in Los Angeles on Thursday afternoon. “The thing I have learned in this wonderful moment in my life is that if you do it your way, no one can take it from you.” Erivo — who was honored alongside Teyana Taylor, Raamla Mohamed, Marla Gibbs and Tyra Banks — began her speech by reading a quote that Essence posted shortly after “Wicked” hit theaters.

The story characterized her performance as the young witch Elphaba, who is ostracized for being born with green skin, as a character that “speaks to the heart of every Black woman who has ever been judged and misunderstood and yet still, learned that her power was a gift all along.” With that idea front of mind, Erivo used her time to encourage the audience of Black talent, creatives and executives to tap into their own power. “You weren’t insane when you were dreaming of being a superhero.

You weren’t asking too much when you wanted to be seen for the lead,” Erivo said. “When you were little and you believed you could fly, that wasn’t a fairy tale.