“I grew up with this feeling that there was salvation in movies. I was a very sensitive kid and I processed everything around me by projecting feelings onto imaginary worlds. Eventually I realized that kind of deep sensitivity was actually something I could channel into work. I started dancing when I was three and that became my foundation. When I was 15, I got a role in a musical with Debbie Allen. Stan Rogow—who produced Lizzie McGuire—came to rehearsal and asked who the girl in the purple shorts was. That was me, and that’s how he became my manager.
Zola was my breakout role. When the real Zola, Aziah King, wanted me to play her, I felt so honored. Then all the stars aligned and I got to work with Janicza Bravo, Riley Keough, and Colman Domingo. We shot the movie in 2018 and it didn’t come out until 2021. We were still in a strange place for movies—and for the world in general. Sometimes talking about Zola makes me a little emotional because I feel like it’s the little choo-choo that could. We get so much love from people on the street, but I do wish we’d had the full movie rollout moment—the billboards, the marketing, all of it. Janicza Bravo fought so hard to honor Aziah’s story and there was so much attention to detail in every part of the film. I think in a different moment, it maybe would’ve had even longer legs.
These days, I’m much more filmmaker-driven when it comes to choosing roles. I’ll be honest, earlier in my career, I was like, ‘I’m a Black girl with range, I’ll do everything.’ I really wanted to prove myself. But I think I was naive about the fact that Hollywood doesn’t necessarily care about range if it’s not attached to the right project. At the end of the day, this career is about lasting. That mindset is part of why I was so excited to do I Love Boosters with Boots Riley. The cast is stacked: Keke Palmer, Demi Moore, Will Poulter, Naomi Ackie, Eiza González, LaKeith Stanfield, Don Cheadle, Poppy Liu… My agent warned me that my role was the smallest, but I honestly didn’t care because I wanted to work with Boots. And even though it’s the smallest, I shine; I made a whole meal out of it. I had also just come off doing IT: Welcome to Derry, which is horror and very intense, so getting to step into something absurd, surreal, funny, and still meaningful felt like the perfect opportunity.
BEAUTY
I’ve talked about this before, but I felt like an ugly duckling growing up. I come from a line of wounded women, so I carried this generational lack of self-worth. I think it’s a combination of environment and also just the soul’s proclivity toward criticism. I felt like if I could just get it right—if I was smart enough, if I looked perfect, if my hair and my edges were laid the way my mom needed them to be—then maybe I’d be loved.
I think my mom being very hard on my looks is pretty common for a lot of Black families, and especially people from the South. There was so much emphasis on appearance—my body, pinching my nose so it wouldn’t widen, comments about the texture of my hair in the back. And I was already such a sensitive soul. Then on top of that, I became a dancer, which I’m so grateful for because it gave me discipline and body awareness, but it also made me extremely self-conscious.
Since having my son, I feel more beautiful internally than I ever have before. Someone recently said to me, ‘All we can ask for is to be better than our parents,’ but I don’t need to be better than them—I just want my son to experience me fully embodied, not some fragmented version shaped by projection or fear. Hopefully that allows him to become fully himself, too. I’m starting him early. He looks in the mirror and smiles, and I have to protect that light at all costs.
I will say postpartum is such a trip. I’m still breastfeeding, so my body is constantly fluctuating. I had bigger boobs in high school, then smaller boobs for years, and now I have big boobs again and I’m learning how to dress all over again. Pregnancy also caused my abs to separate—diastasis recti—so I’ve been doing physical therapy to bring everything back together. [A mother’s] body is so intelligent in the ways it adapts for the survival of the baby. But aesthetically? It can be rough. I have a little pouch and a hernia I’ll eventually have to get fixed. And then on top of that, I work in Hollywood and suddenly we’re back in this ‘skinny’ era. I’m like, Wait, I spent so long getting thick. What the fuck? [Laughs]
SKINCARE
I love a good facial. I recently saw Fabricio Ormonde, and I looked like a disco ball after. In the UK, Landana is incredible. She’s one of those if-you-know-you-know facialists and doesn’t even have social media. She’s honestly the godmother of my skin. I have combination skin so I’m naturally more oily in my T-zone, but right now, my bigger concern is dehydration because breastfeeding is so dehydrating. Even when I think I’m hydrated, I have to hydrate even more than that.
On a daily basis, I try to get 10 or 15 minutes of morning sun without sunscreen first so I can get vitamin D. But if I’m really being honest, I’m not as consistent about sunscreen as I should be. I usually don’t cleanse my face in the morning, but if I’m really in my bag, I’ll ice my face. After that I use iS Clinical’s Pro-Heal serum and Moisturizing Complex, which multiple facialists have recommended. I also recently went into Bluemercury and someone there recommended Dr. Diamond's Metacine Hydro/o. It’s still new to me so I’m figuring it out, but when I tried it in the store, my skin felt great.
Then it’s eye cream time. I was using Biologique Recherche’s Crème Contour des Yeux VIP O2, but lately, I’ve been really loving Extreme eye cream from Innbeauty Project because it’s so moisturizing. The skin around your eyes is so thin and delicate, and I just feel like you can never give it too much love. A woman at the Sephora on 53rd Street actually put me onto it. I was about to buy something else and she told me to put it on first, and it was a game-changer. It genuinely made me look more awake, which is saying a lot because I haven’t slept in months.
For my body, I love Nécessaire. I try to stay away from fragrance most of the time, but every once in a while, I’ll use their olibanum body lotion because the frankincense scent is so good. And their eucalyptus body exfoliator makes me feel like I just walked out of Burke Williams—shout-out to the old-school spa. Then there’s good ol’ Cerave daily moisturizing lotion, which I use in between my Nécessaire products. Cerave-anything is just tried-and-true.
My husband and I are also really into soap bars. There’s just something so satisfying about opening a fresh bar and having it sit there looking all chic and cute. We were at Bergdorf’s recently and I had to stop myself from buying a Loewe soap bar, but God, it was gorgeous. [Laughs] Some friends recently gifted us a bunch of Flamingo Estate products though, including the Rosemary Clary Sage body wash, and it smells unbelievably good.
MAKEUP
I’m obsessed with Hourglass. Their Unlocked mascara is probably my favorite at the moment because it gives so much length without making my lashes feel crunchy, and it comes off easily without breaking them. Lately, I’ve been really into the Espresso shade because it’s softer than Ultra Black. I love black mascara too, but sometimes it’s like, Where’s she going? It’s 2PM, girl. Their Veil skin tint is also incredible—I use 15. It’s super hydrating and goes on like velvet. Their Vanish concealer is really good too, but I also love the Luminous Silk concealer from Giorgio Armani—I use 8.75.
Lately, I’ve been using the Yves Saint Laurent blushes. The colors are insane, and the texture is so beautiful and creamy. I alternate between Mischievous Magenta and Chili Crush depending on how I’m feeling. Sometimes I’ll use a little bronzer—I really like Ilia’s—and blend it in with my fingers.
I fill in my brows with the Kosas Brow Pop pencil in Brown Black. Emily Cheng put me on to it. I don’t like my brows to look too perfect, though. I’ve always had thinner brows and I’ve kind of just accepted that that’s my face. I actually got my brows microbladed years ago in LA and ended up getting them lasered off because I hated the shape and color. And honestly, once I’m done breastfeeding, I’m probably going to laser off a lot of my tattoos, too. It’s funny because our parents warn us about this stuff and then you still have to go make the mistakes yourself. I got a lot of tattoos in my twenties when I was really struggling and trying to remind myself to hang on. But now I’m OK. I don’t need those reminders written all over my body anymore—they live in my heart.
Last is my lips. Make Up For Ever lip liners are just incredible. Everybody loves Limitless Brown, but lately I’ve been really into Dramatic Plum. I put it around the outside of my lips and kind of buff it out so it looks more like a stain or a tint. I’m not really a lip gloss girl, so I usually just leave it at that.
HAIR
I wash my hair once a week, and I really love Rōz products because they smell so good and make my hair feel soft. I use the salt scalp scrub because you have to stay on top of product buildup, which I honestly don’t think enough people think about. The leave-in is also incredible.
I get a protein treatment at Mèche Salon that they call ‘hair Botox’—but I always feel the need to clarify that there are no injections involved. [Laughs] I know people get actual Botox for sweating and things like that, but this just smooths the hair and helps protect it from all the heat styling I do for work. My hair is kind of mid-length right now, but I want it down to my butt. I get trims every three months with Carlos at HairFlow by Xiomy. I’m a very good researcher when it comes to beauty maintenance. Before I even moved, I was like, ‘OK, where’s my blowout place? Where’s my dentist? Where’s my pedicure spot?’ Once a week I get a blowout and it’s only $50—can you believe that?
It’s amazing what having your hair done can do for your day. Obviously we’re talking about beauty and products, but sometimes these rituals don’t even feel like vanity to me—they feel like self-preservation. The world can really knock you down, and something as simple as your hair in a nice place can really perk up your energy.
NAILS + FRAGRANCE
I don’t have a regular salon yet since I just moved to New York, but I plan to see Dr. Krista Archer at Arch again. She does medical-grade pedicures and manicures that really focus on hand and feet health. I’ve only gone once, but If you have calluses, bunions, or cracked heels even, you need to get yourself to the Upper East Side for an appointment. Oh, and Bare Hands has this amazing citrine cuticle oil. It came in a little kit with the chicest glass nail file—I always feel like a classy hoe when I use it.”
—as told to Daise Bedolla
Photographed by Ashlee Huff in New York on May 6, 2026