Zendaya for Flare Magazine

Zendaya Coleman covers the December issue of Flare Magazine.  The teenage beauty is a mogul in the making, a fashion risk-taker and a role model to many. Her maturity level is evident in her interview as she discusses feminism, fashion, being a role model and the direction of her successful career.  Check out some excerpts from her interview with Flare Magazine.

On her success:

“I’ve had a lot of voices tell me what I should be making. Personally, I would much rather live and die by my own hand. If my stuff sucks, then at least I made it suck. I didn’t allow some person, some old dude in a suit, to make it suck for me.”

 

On being a role model:

“In the words of Tupac Shakur: I am a real model because I’m not playing a role and I’m not pretending to be some good kid that’s perfect,” she says. “It just happens that I’m a good kid, and I don’t do bad stuff and I like to be positive because that’s just how I was raised. I think if I were faking it, then you would’ve seen me break character a long time ago.”

 

On Mattel making a Barbie in her honor:

“It’s something that is long overdue,” she says. “There have been black Barbies, but not ones with locs or even natural hair or different facial structures. When I was little, I had a Barbie, but I didn’t have a Barbie that looked like me because there was no mixed-girl-with-curly-hair Barbie!”

On why she like to play with beauty and fashion:

“A big reason I play with beauty and hair is that it’s important to show different kinds of beauty when I’m on the red carpet. I don’t want to be just one-dimensional or relatable to one type of person. I want a different woman to be like, That’s like me! That’s like my hair! or That’s so my style! If I went out there and was just like, pretty, all the time, doing the same thing, it can be cool, but you’re also catering to one type of person, and what about all those other kinds of beautiful out there?”

 

On feminism:

“A feminist is a person who believes in the power of women just as much as they believe in the power of anyone else. It’s equality, it’s fairness, and I think it’s a great thing to be a part of.”

Take a look at the rest of the photos from her cover story.