Paying It Forward: 8 Inspiring Women Name the Women Who Inspire Them

"I look up to [Susan Kelechi Watson] in so many ways. I'm so thankful for her and her always giving me wisdom and helping me on set. She just makes everyone just feel seen. She taught me how I want to be in a work environment, how I want to be professional and respectful. She's beautiful inside and out. She's taught me so much about how to be a woman in this industry. Being a woman in this industry, sometimes it's hard to be seen, but she teaches me how to use my voice."

"I love Amanda Gorman. I'm freaking out on her. She's amazing. I've always loved poetry, all my life. I was fanatical about it as a kid and a teenager, and I just feel like she's going to start a new movement of poetry for people, and I'm just in love with her. And I love Joan Didion. I loved reading her in my 20s. I was so inspired by her because she was flawed, cool, smart, interesting. Plus, everybody loves Oprah for all the right reasons."

"I'm so grateful to folks like Ai-Jen Poo — she's one of the very few other AAPI woman activists that's out there. I'm so grateful for her mentorship. I think we were just the only AAPI women activists in a lot of spaces and I am so grateful that she has included me in events."

"Whitney [Houston] was a big inspiration . . . She made her stamp and she sacrificed a lot for people, and to me is very much just a beacon of hope in this life. She's definitely someone that I really looked to a lot as a kid. I thought she was just phenomenal and just magical, and I still think that in a lot of ways. She's a person that's always had a special place in my heart. Anybody that follows me on social knows that. I think people sometimes want you to like somebody that's quote, unquote perfect or didn't mess up or always got things right. To me, it's hard to relate to those people. To me, I love stars that don't necessarily try to portray perfection. They're like, 'Look, I'm a human being and I go through stuff, but I'm still going to . . .' They can still inspire. Those are the people I tend to lean toward and look to."

"I think that the healthiest answer and the answer that everybody should strive for is themselves. I have been consistently unstoppable. I feel I need to be not bashful about this, because it's actually for mental health. It's a self-loving proclamation to be like, 'Hey, good job. There's been a lot you faced and you faced it head-on and you've been resilient.' So I want to give myself props for that. I also feel very proud to say that, because I feel like I've worked very hard to make that true. I feel very strongly that, and I always have, that I wanted to be my own role model. We should all strive to be our own role models. What are role models, except people that we want to take from and are inspired by? I want to wake up every morning inspired by myself. So I strive very hard to make sure that I can always say that."

"Definitely my mom and my friends, really all my girlfriends. I am surrounded by the most amazing women who are so independent and have their own stuff going on. We are always growing and learning from one another in the most amazing way. I am so blessed to have been raised by such an amazing woman as my mom, but to also be able to surround myself with such amazing girls and friends."

"In my direct community, I have a mentor: Her name is Teri Hart. She's a host in Canada, and she's also a producer. She is someone who has 20 plus years experience over me. When I met her, when I was first starting out in my career, I was very intimidated. When you're fresh out of college, you're working your first job, you don't necessarily think women of that experience level would be kind to you or be willing to help you, but she was so welcoming. She taught me so much about the industry, and she's someone who is still a mentor to me to this day, and also has become a dear friend. She's the first person that always comes to mind when I think of someone that has molded me into who I am personally and professionally."

"I'm definitely very much inspired by Sade. I just love her style and her stage presence and how she kind of carries herself with such grace and class, and I love her music. Also, I would definitely say Beyoncé. She's just such a hardworking performer and it reminds me of some of the documentaries I've watched of how Michael Jackson pulls together his performances, and they just look so well put together and everyone's so on point, and you can just tell that she has a very high standard of how she presents herself. I also love how she embraces her Blackness and really plugs the whole Black community into her performances. I think it's amazing."