Leslie Jones
The Pioneer
The frontier and an appetite for the unknown, goes first.
Leslie Jones earns The Pioneer label the hard way, through a decade-long climb to legitimacy before SNL, refusing shortcuts in favour of earned authenticity. Her craft framework, that a comedian is a toddler at year one, insists mastery cannot be borrowed. Add a radical self-reclamation after years of self-hate and an explicit mission to normalise Black women showing up fully as themselves, and you have someone clearing ground where no map existed.
“Fearless is not that I'm not scared. Fearless is still taking a step even if you petrified. That's what courage is. People say I'm fearless, and I'm like, no, I'm free.”
“We gotta make it norm to be ourselves, because if you're so busy trying to be somebody else, who's trying to be you. God made everyone different except for twins, which is creepy.”
“I'm trying to get the little girls that look like me — I see a lot of kids that go through shit, and I just want to tell them just get through it. I swear it's going to be so good when you can control your life.”
Angie Martinez IRL: “Leslie Jones Shares Hilarious Moments From Comedy Career, Therapy & Dating”
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