2020 is not stopping Zendaya in fact she has proven she is here to stay with all that she is doing and has been able to achieve this year.
As part of being gracing the cover of the November/December issue Zendaya talked about Emmy Win, ‘Euphoria’ and Beyonce’s impact and more.
On her goal of championing for young people, she said, “It just feels like a lot of the time, especially for young Black people, you’re birthed into a system that’s not built for you. It’s on us to take it from here and hopefully make it better. But it doesn’t really look like that right now and the people in charge don’t like to listen to us. But it’s important to lean into hope and lean into the beautiful things that I see my peers doing, whether through their activism or through their art. It’s extremely inspiring for me to watch and be a part of. I wanted to speak to the power of that and let them know, what you’re fighting for does mean something, and you are supported and seen.”
Zendaya shared what was going through her mind right before her historic Emmy win or Euphoria, “There’s a video of me that a family friend took while I was waiting, and waiting, and you can see my leg shaking. In my head I was like, ‘Dude, just chill out. What will be, will be.’ I remember taking a deep breath and then hearing my name, and then my family screamed. I was worried that if they kept screaming for too long, I wouldn’t have any time to actually say anything but I didn’t want to stop them, because they were having a great time. It was a very special night. I’ll definitely remember that one forever…”
She shared how she felt about receiving support from other Black women after her Emmy win. She said, “I’m honoured to have that support, especially from my fellow young Black creatives. Through this Emmy’s period, especially, I felt a strong sense of support within our community, which I’m really grateful for. I think what’s slowly starting to happen is, artists like Issa Rae and Lena White have created opportunities that have resulted in more of us being in these rooms. That’s such a special feeling, and I think it’s definitely changing the idea that there can only be ‘one at a time,’ which is false. I love to see that genuine love and respect for each other’s work. I hope that we continue to expand that in all kinds of beautiful ways because I think we’re on a really good path…”
And finally, on her New Year’s wish for Black women she wished, “For us to continue to fully realize our power and harness it to do great things because we are incredibly powerful. We’re often convinced that we’re not, and taught to shrink-but we have to believe in our collective power. I always think of that Beyonce song. ‘They’ll never take my power, my power, my power.’ Let’s take that energy into the new year…”
