Quotes and Experiences from the Black Stars on Magazine Covers in September 2018

Black celebrities, activists, and models blazed on magazine covers for September 2018. From Rihanna on Vogue to Virgil Abloh on Business of Fashion, blackness shined. Comedian Tiffany Haddish talked about how she is viewed and Beyonce talked about giving more opportunities to the often overlooked creatives. Read more below and see who else landed a cover this month/season.

I will make mistakes in my career, but I can try my best to make the best decisions that I can and learn from my mistakes. Like, "I’m about to kill it on this next go-round because now I know better."
- Zendaya in Marie Claire September 2018 Issue

"If people in powerful positions continue to hire and cast only people who look like them, sound like them, come from the same neighborhoods they grew up in, they will never have a greater understanding of experiences different from their own. They will hire the same models, curate the same art, cast the same actors over and over again, and we will all lose. The beauty of social media is it’s completely democratic. Everyone has a say. Everyone’s voice counts, and everyone has a chance to paint the world from their own perspective."
- Beyoncé in Vogue September 2018

Hampshire was very generous. But I was apprehensive about the experience. It’s a place where you have to design your own major. You just made it up. I didn’t like it. I came from a lot of structure, and I didn’t understand this thing of doing whatever you wanted. But what I learned was invaluable: to depend on myself, to self-generate and self-motivate. I learned self-discipline because it wasn’t being imposed on me.
- Lupita N'yongo in Net-A-Porter Fall 2018

“I feel like all facets deserve to be seen—from the doctors to the janitors to the baby mamas to the side chicks.” And she’s committed to playing women who look and talk just like her. “It’s funny because people are like, ‘Oh, Tiffany Haddish is ratchet.’ No, I’m your typical chick from the hood. And as ratchet as I might talk, or people might think I carry myself, I am making a living portraying myself.”
- Tiffany Haddish in Glamour September 2018

I feed my body for energy, but I also want to feed my spirit with things that make me happy. It’s important to have a positive relationship with food. For me, there’s no such thing as a cheat day because eating isn’t cheating.
- Aja Naomi King in Shape September 2018

"At 14, 15, I never expected to ever be giving any type of life; to be this happy with having a child. From not having family to being able to create your own,’ she says. ‘Things you lacked, things you missed out on, trauma – you can erase that by creating new life. All those things you didn’t get, all those hugs and kisses. I can retract those things with my son’s life. In giving him that childhood, it heals you as well. In hugging your son, it’s giving a piece of that back to you, too. I need him as much as he needs me.’"
- Slick Woods in Elle UK September 2018

Setting boundaries is a huge part of it. Did you always know how to do that? “No! You have to learn. That a small no is a big yes. How to have the courage to say what you mean and mean what you say. To have boundaries without hacking up a relationship. Boundaries can be bridges; they don’t have to equal excavating someone from your life.
- Tracee Elliss Ross in Elle Canada September 2018

"The thing people don't fully understand about my generation is just how multifaceted we are," she says now. "Oftentimes, people like to oversimplify what [we] believe in or do, whether that's, 'Oh, you're on your phones all the time,' or, 'Oh, you're very self-centered,' but what I've seen from my peers is that we're socially engaged and curious about the world."
- Yara Shadidi in The Hollywood Report September 2018


"We’re into a zeitgeist where people are fighting for their space to be seen," says Davis. "People have to know that there are different types of women of color. We’re not all Foxy Brown. We’re not all brown or light-skinned beauties with a big Afro. We have the girl next door. We have the older, dark-skinned, natural-haired woman."
- Viola Davis in Variety Magazine September 2018

More magazine covers from September 2018 / Autumn releases:

*all photos belong to the magazine named on photos. I do not own any rights to any of these photos.