There's something very important about films about black women and girls being made by black women. It's a reflection as opposed to an interpretation.

I make films about black women and it doesn't mean that you can't see them as a black man, doesn't mean that he can't see them as a white man or she can't see them as a white woman.

It's not enough even to have one black Barbie... because black women are not a monolith.

The studios aren't lining up to make films about black protagonists, black people being autonomous and independent.

All black women aren't sassy, loud, difficult, or subservient. We are, in fact, very complex and very diverse, living very complex and diverse lives. That point cannot be made enough.

Artists should be free to create what we want. I believe there's a special value in work that is a reflection of oneself as opposed to interpretation. When I see a film or a TV show about black people not written by someone who's black, it's an interpretation of that life.