00:00Things that, I don't know, make me feel like I'm connected to pop culture in a way and kind of just casual. I love checkers. I love bands. I like dirty bands. I don't really like squeaky clean tennis shoes. I like things that feel really worn in. That's when I feel my most comfortable and cool.
00:23Today's shoot with Essence is so exciting. I grew up with Essence magazine in my house thanks to my mom and like just having a subscription my whole life. There's some really iconic Essence covers and when I think of the legacy of Essence and just the vibe of Essence, it's like I think of a lot of women of color like kind of like shoulder to shoulder and it's like four different black ladies.
00:53like kind of shoulder to shoulder you know on the cover of the magazine and I think it like represents the love of black women and it represents our place speaking to ourselves, dialoguing with ourselves, our place in pop culture and I think it's really important to the identity of black women and so to me it was an honor and a joy to be a part of this magazine and to be on my first cover. I'm so so happy to be here.
01:19I think growing up it was nice to see myself projected in a magazine on some level and I hope that people look at this cover and they think oh actually this is really nice representation. I'm really happy to see her there because I'm happy to be here. So thank you so much for having me Essence and I appreciate it and lots of love.
01:38it is very very extremely 100,000 trillion percent exciting to be reprising the role of Professor Yelali Hicks and I love that she you know comes from the North American School of Ilvermorny which is really exciting and I learned just so much about her.
01:57I'm really excited to play a black witch in this franchise it's really exciting and something that's just really cool from her is that she's like a descendant of West African mermaids and her wand core is this really beautiful coily long strand of mermaid hair that's like kind of like this which is really cool.
02:21so I'm really excited to give black people just something else that they can cosplay if you will it's like I'm just trying to make comic con easier you know for everybody so I think anybody that or any part that kind of adds to stuff we can cosplay is really fun.
02:39been really fun the biggest.
02:45the biggest life love relationship lesson that I learned from season two is I felt like season two of Love Life was really great because it told this
02:54story not only of this guy coming of age in his 30s which is really beautiful.
03:00sometimes coming of age stories are reserved for you know maybe teenagers or people in their 20s but you can you're always growing and always learning
03:07But I think that with Marcus and Mia's relationship that's highlighted in season two, you see two completely formed people growing, you know, side by side with each other.
03:18And I think, you know, sometimes people say, like, you want to be your best self before you're in a relationship.
03:23And that's true to some degree.
03:24But the other part of it is that you're never done growing and you're never done changing and becoming who you are.
03:30And I think, like, self-love and growth is a journey and not a destination.
03:33And I think that the second season really highlights these two people where even in the end, you know, they're not two perfect people with each other, but they're two people actively working and choosing to be with each other.
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