[Applause]
hello everyone so I love doing these
talks because this gives me a chance to
give back to the next generation and by
the next generation I don’t mean y’all
you’re lost cause but the generation
that I’m talking about are usually under
three feet tall and they ask a lot of
wide questions so I think back to
moments when I was younger I faced
injustice and I wish I could go back to
those moments and say something but
those moments have taught me that
whenever possible I need to be the
person who I needed growing up and
fortunately I get that chance a lot
because I work in the wonderful world of
children’s education oh those things
those there are actually me I’ll give
you some context in my company I play a
whole bunch of characters these two in
particular have made ten out of ten kids
cried but no children’s entertainment is
actually one of the most beautiful jobs
that I think someone can hold I get the
honor of going to the scholar and
telling children how strong they are and
I also get the honor of whisking
children into a world that they only
thought existed in storybooks even
though sometimes it does feel more like
glorified babysitting when a kid pulls
your wig or spits on you it is truly a
job where you have the power and
authority to tell a child that something
is going to be alright and tell them
that their dreams can come true so I
want you all to think back to the moment
and you needed someone maybe you doubted
yourself or maybe you didn’t think you
were good enough who is the person that
you needed now if you think to that
moment you’ll realize that everyone in
this room is a princess to someone now
whether it’s the kid you tutor or the
kid who saw you on the street the other
day and thought hey that person kind of
looks like me and acts like me you have
the power to influence someone and that
job comes with a lot of power a lot of
privilege and you are confess it’s
pretty awesome so that’s why today I’m
going to share with you three anecdotes
about why I do what I do the way I do it
and how we can all be that person
so I’m going to rewind back to when I
was really young when I was in first
grade my mom asked me to be in food for
lunch it wasn’t the food that the other
kids knew and it wasn’t food that I read
about in storybooks but it was what I
enabled the kids at the other at the
table at the bench when we were eating
they moved away when they smelled the
spices of my homeland that smells funny
they said and they moved away their
snack packs admit pizza pops and they
alienated me in a school that was
already 99% white a school where kids
would drive their nails along my ashy
skin to make fun patterns and where
teachers would commonly ask me so where
are you from sweetie
even though I was growing up on this
line a settler just like them so moments
like that they made me shy away from my
culture and that’s some you gotta really
regretted growing up so when I do
princess party that I see children
celebrating their culture in a way that
is particularly special I make it a
point to tell them that their cultural
food is my favorite food or their
cultural outfit is beautiful I say their
name and I say their name often and I
pronounce it correctly I do that because
I know that even though it’s 2018
they’re not going to get a lot of days
like that so fast forward a little bit
to when I’m a little bit older I started
to notice women in a different way and
it took me a really long time before I
was comfortable with saying I’m queer I
grew up in a family and in a world with
a lot of homophobic and transphobic
messaging a world that was always
telling me to stay inside my gender role
now I was doing a princess party one day
as Princess Jasmine and I had brought a
dress of chess with me and inside the
dress-up chest was a million different
outfits that you could think of now I
never have a problem getting the little
girls to you know be involved but little
boys they are adamant in showing me that
they are disinterested in all things
pink and sparkly not because they
actually are but you know gender roles
tend to have that effect so I was
setting up my sparkly makeovers I did
notice one little boy he had walked over
to the dress-up chest and raving Smurfs
from all the other kids and from the
dots he pulled out a Cinderella dress
and he joined the other girls in line
for their makeover now when it was his
turn I offered him all the options from
sparkly hair to face paint to getting
his nails
and when table I was painting his nails
lime-green I overheard a dad say hey al
are you really gonna let your son dress
like that to which this child looked at
me the princess in the room and said
Princess Jasmine I’m not beautiful like
you now I see a lot of you saying like
oh my gosh like yeah that’s how I felt
because as the princess in the room I
knew that in that moment I had the power
to override all those voices in the room
telling this child that he couldn’t be
what he wanted to be he couldn’t dress
what he wanted to so I held up a mirror
and I said you are the most beautiful
person in this room and in his smile I
knew that I was the person who can make
a difference not all those bad I love
you know that someone actually caught
that moment now my last anecdote was a
little bit harder to prepare for you
because it talks about – something that
I have no control over and that’s the
ability for someone to create their own
fairy tale now this last anecdote takes
place in a small town with a
dark-skinned Queen and a dark-skinned
King who were writing their own love
story now in my perfect world people
could be whatever they want people can
love whoever they want there are no
limits but unfortunately that’s not
always true so I went up to this small
town last summer a small town that’s
supposed to be quaint and charming just
like in the storybooks a place that
unassuming where people know each
other’s names that inspires love songs
about guitars and girls next door with
corn silk hair and blue eyes I went up
to the small town last year to visit my
boyfriend by a small northern Alberta
town of
and that’s when I learned that
quaintness the innocence the charm it
wasn’t built for people who look like me
now it’s really hard to describe
judgment it’s hard to describe the
feelings that you get as you walk down
the street eating ice cream going into
stores to window-shop eating a meal in a
restaurant stairs people give you the
way they tell you that you don’t belong
there the way that they decide that they
can write your fairy tale for you and
they decide who gets to have a fairy
tale in the first place now I thought
the sunbeams would feel brighter without
the big skyscrapers that usually hide
them but I barely got to bask in that
Sun before my boyfriend pulled me inside
confirming that our melanin was not
welcome unless we stayed in the shadows
and now it breaks my heart that children
as young as four years old think that
that’s going to be their story that
they’re told that they can’t be whatever
they want and do whatever they want and
love whoever they want and they think
that their stories are being written for
them that breaks my heart but as the
princess in the room I am here to enlist
your help because I’ve realized there
are issues that I can’t tackle alone but
I have all of you and all of you are
princess enter the room to someone so
all I’m asking is for you to find that
someone find that someone who looks
whose struggle you can relate with and I
want you to tell them that they can be
whoever they want and love whoever they
want and go wherever they want and yes
there are going to be dragons and towers
and trolls out hide under bridges but at
least they’ll know that someone cares
about them enough to look out for them I
want you to share the magic I want you
to pass down the crown and I want all of
you to use your power to be the princess
of ever
hello everyone so I love doing these
talks because this gives me a chance to
give back to the next generation and by
the next generation I don’t mean y’all
you’re lost cause but the generation
that I’m talking about are usually under
three feet tall and they ask a lot of
wide questions so I think back to
moments when I was younger I faced
injustice and I wish I could go back to
those moments and say something but
those moments have taught me that
whenever possible I need to be the
person who I needed growing up and
fortunately I get that chance a lot
because I work in the wonderful world of
children’s education oh those things
those there are actually me I’ll give
you some context in my company I play a
whole bunch of characters these two in
particular have made ten out of ten kids
cried but no children’s entertainment is
actually one of the most beautiful jobs
that I think someone can hold I get the
honor of going to the scholar and
telling children how strong they are and
I also get the honor of whisking
children into a world that they only
thought existed in storybooks even
though sometimes it does feel more like
glorified babysitting when a kid pulls
your wig or spits on you it is truly a
job where you have the power and
authority to tell a child that something
is going to be alright and tell them
that their dreams can come true so I
want you all to think back to the moment
and you needed someone maybe you doubted
yourself or maybe you didn’t think you
were good enough who is the person that
you needed now if you think to that
moment you’ll realize that everyone in
this room is a princess to someone now
whether it’s the kid you tutor or the
kid who saw you on the street the other
day and thought hey that person kind of
looks like me and acts like me you have
the power to influence someone and that
job comes with a lot of power a lot of
privilege and you are confess it’s
pretty awesome so that’s why today I’m
going to share with you three anecdotes
about why I do what I do the way I do it
and how we can all be that person
so I’m going to rewind back to when I
was really young when I was in first
grade my mom asked me to be in food for
lunch it wasn’t the food that the other
kids knew and it wasn’t food that I read
about in storybooks but it was what I
enabled the kids at the other at the
table at the bench when we were eating
they moved away when they smelled the
spices of my homeland that smells funny
they said and they moved away their
snack packs admit pizza pops and they
alienated me in a school that was
already 99% white a school where kids
would drive their nails along my ashy
skin to make fun patterns and where
teachers would commonly ask me so where
are you from sweetie
even though I was growing up on this
line a settler just like them so moments
like that they made me shy away from my
culture and that’s some you gotta really
regretted growing up so when I do
princess party that I see children
celebrating their culture in a way that
is particularly special I make it a
point to tell them that their cultural
food is my favorite food or their
cultural outfit is beautiful I say their
name and I say their name often and I
pronounce it correctly I do that because
I know that even though it’s 2018
they’re not going to get a lot of days
like that so fast forward a little bit
to when I’m a little bit older I started
to notice women in a different way and
it took me a really long time before I
was comfortable with saying I’m queer I
grew up in a family and in a world with
a lot of homophobic and transphobic
messaging a world that was always
telling me to stay inside my gender role
now I was doing a princess party one day
as Princess Jasmine and I had brought a
dress of chess with me and inside the
dress-up chest was a million different
outfits that you could think of now I
never have a problem getting the little
girls to you know be involved but little
boys they are adamant in showing me that
they are disinterested in all things
pink and sparkly not because they
actually are but you know gender roles
tend to have that effect so I was
setting up my sparkly makeovers I did
notice one little boy he had walked over
to the dress-up chest and raving Smurfs
from all the other kids and from the
dots he pulled out a Cinderella dress
and he joined the other girls in line
for their makeover now when it was his
turn I offered him all the options from
sparkly hair to face paint to getting
his nails
and when table I was painting his nails
lime-green I overheard a dad say hey al
are you really gonna let your son dress
like that to which this child looked at
me the princess in the room and said
Princess Jasmine I’m not beautiful like
you now I see a lot of you saying like
oh my gosh like yeah that’s how I felt
because as the princess in the room I
knew that in that moment I had the power
to override all those voices in the room
telling this child that he couldn’t be
what he wanted to be he couldn’t dress
what he wanted to so I held up a mirror
and I said you are the most beautiful
person in this room and in his smile I
knew that I was the person who can make
a difference not all those bad I love
you know that someone actually caught
that moment now my last anecdote was a
little bit harder to prepare for you
because it talks about – something that
I have no control over and that’s the
ability for someone to create their own
fairy tale now this last anecdote takes
place in a small town with a
dark-skinned Queen and a dark-skinned
King who were writing their own love
story now in my perfect world people
could be whatever they want people can
love whoever they want there are no
limits but unfortunately that’s not
always true so I went up to this small
town last summer a small town that’s
supposed to be quaint and charming just
like in the storybooks a place that
unassuming where people know each
other’s names that inspires love songs
about guitars and girls next door with
corn silk hair and blue eyes I went up
to the small town last year to visit my
boyfriend by a small northern Alberta
town of
and that’s when I learned that
quaintness the innocence the charm it
wasn’t built for people who look like me
now it’s really hard to describe
judgment it’s hard to describe the
feelings that you get as you walk down
the street eating ice cream going into
stores to window-shop eating a meal in a
restaurant stairs people give you the
way they tell you that you don’t belong
there the way that they decide that they
can write your fairy tale for you and
they decide who gets to have a fairy
tale in the first place now I thought
the sunbeams would feel brighter without
the big skyscrapers that usually hide
them but I barely got to bask in that
Sun before my boyfriend pulled me inside
confirming that our melanin was not
welcome unless we stayed in the shadows
and now it breaks my heart that children
as young as four years old think that
that’s going to be their story that
they’re told that they can’t be whatever
they want and do whatever they want and
love whoever they want and they think
that their stories are being written for
them that breaks my heart but as the
princess in the room I am here to enlist
your help because I’ve realized there
are issues that I can’t tackle alone but
I have all of you and all of you are
princess enter the room to someone so
all I’m asking is for you to find that
someone find that someone who looks
whose struggle you can relate with and I
want you to tell them that they can be
whoever they want and love whoever they
want and go wherever they want and yes
there are going to be dragons and towers
and trolls out hide under bridges but at
least they’ll know that someone cares
about them enough to look out for them I
want you to share the magic I want you
to pass down the crown and I want all of
you to use your power to be the princess
of ever
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