“A black woman's handbook in this industry is, 'Whoa.' The chapter on '...” — Kelela Quote

“A black woman's handbook in this industry is, 'Whoa.' The chapter on 'Don't go there.' The chapter on 'How to say that nicely,' how to express that you don't like something so that you don't lose the opportunity - which is what we're doing all day long.”

“Most of my friends, growing up, were upper-middle-class white kids, so it was a different reality at home both culturally and linguistically. It created a lot of insecurities for me, but it also did a lot of amazing things that I didn't know were happening at the time.”

“When you're entertaining all day long and that's your work, you end up really very tired. You don't have a lot of energy left over for your loved ones.”

“When I went through my life, I was like, 'I sit around and play video games all day. Nobody wants to hear about this.'”

“I love to work. When I was a kid, I would invite my friends over to play, then I would take them over to a recycling plant and we would haul glass all day. They hated me for this, but I thought it was fun.”