Forget Barbara Howard, Sheryl Lee Ralph has a few life lessons to teach.
As the Abbott Elementary star continues to rack up awards for her performance on the hit ABC sitcom, she's also serving as a source of inspiration with the encouraging words she doles out.
Take, for example, her 2022 Emmys acceptance speech after winning the award for Supporting Actress in a Comedy Series. The victory made her the second Black actress in history to win the category and, upon her arrival at the podium, the 66-year-old celebrated the momentous feat by belting out a few lines from Dianne Reeves' "Endangered Species."
"I am a woman, I am an artist," she sang, as the crowd jumped to its feet. "And I know where my voice belongs."
The impromptu performance has reverberated across Hollywood and beyond. As she explained to E! News in October, "It has changed everything. People talk about the overnight of it all."
The actress continued, "I have traveled to different countries and people open their arms, they talk to me about what it meant when I won. They say to me how I moved them with my speech."
And when Sheryl struck gold again at the 2023 Critics Choice Awards last month, she delievered yet another powerful speech to viewers. "To anyone who has ever had a dream and thought your dream wasn't, wouldn't, couldn't come true: I am here to tell you that this is what believing looks like," she said. "This is what striving looks like. Don't you ever, ever give up on you."
Need some motivation in your life? Scroll on for more words of wisdom from Sheryl.
During a conversation with Live From E! host Laverne Cox at the 2023 Golden Globes, Sheryl—who has Jamaican roots—shared an adage that has always motivated her: "As we say in Jamaica, 'What is feel cannot be unfeel,' meaning if it's yours, it will be yours and it will never, ever miss you."
Her mindset for 2023? "Balance," she told Marie Claire in January. "Find your balance in your life and live it."
After winning Best Supporting Actress in a Comedy Series at the 2023 Critics Choice Awards, the Abbott Elementary star told the crowd, "People don't have to like you, people don't have to love you, people don't even have to respect you. But when you look in the mirror, you better love what you see!"
"To anyone who has ever had a dream and thought your dream wasn't, wouldn't, couldn't come true: I am here to tell you that this is what believing looks like," she continued. "This is what striving looks like. Don't you ever, ever give up on you."
When comedian Trevor Noah praised her effervescent outlook on life, the actress noted, "I choose to be happy. I choose joy. I believe since I'm alive, I might as well get up, get out there and enjoy it."
"A great lesson is find your joy and hold onto it," she told Jackée Harry during a 2023 sit-down with Essence. "Don't let anybody take it away from you."
The actress had some uplifting words for her younger self. "There's nothing wrong with your nose," she told InStyle. "There is nothing wrong with the shade of your skin. There is nothing wrong with the way your hair grows out of your head."
Taking the stage at the AARP's Movies for Grownups Awards in 2023, Sheryl dropped a few words of wisdom on aging: "Trust me, there is an alternative—and I don't think you'd want that. So, take care of youself. Take care of your young body. Take care of your middle-aged mind. Take care of the people you love."