Zendaya perfectly shuts down people who don’t take her seriously because of her age
If you don’t already know who Zendaya is, you should, and this, my friend, is your perfect introduction to her. She’s a 19-year-old actress, singer, dancer, and model, and she’s totally and completely fabulous. The burgeoning superstar is featured on four limited edition covers the newest issue of Hunger Magazine, which is titled “Right Way Up.” Zendaya was shot by the magazine’s editor-in-chief Rankin and styled by their fashion director Kim Howells in collaborations with Vivienne Westwood. The cover photos are undoubtedly beautiful, just like Zendaya herself, but the real treat is what Zendaya has to say inside the magazine.
A major point Zendaya discusses in her exclusive interview with Hunger Magazine is her age and how it affects her work and how people view her as an artist. Specially, she drops some major wisdom about taking young people seriously.
“Of course I’ve had a problem with people taking me seriously because of my age,” she explains. “People are always going to do that because you’re less experienced, you haven’t lived as much. And in a sense it is true that there are certain things that you only learn with time. But I think that there are also a lot of things that young people know that older people don’t, and older people will never understand again because they’re in a different section of their lives. I think when you’re young you’re a lot more open-minded, and sometimes you’re a lot more perceptive about what’s going on in the world.”
As a young person myself, I’ve experienced my share of frustration about how a lot of people in older generations view us millennials. Zendaya reminds us that it’s important to not let the slight get you down. “Sometimes we think we know too much, but there are people who have done the research, and have used social media for good,” she explains. “So of course young people are not always going to be taken as seriously, but that’s when you have to prove them wrong.”
She also recognizes that young people need to prove ourselves by pursuing our passions and speaking up about them. In simple terms: Don’t just talk to hear yourself talk – which is a vital lesson at any age. “It’s important to raise your voice in things you feel passionate about, and things that you know about,” she says. “Don’t raise your voice just to raise your voice, if have nothing behind it and don’t know what you’re talking about. But if you take the time to learn about something, and educate yourself, then you have a voice, and you’re allowed to use it.”
Zendaya’s wise words are enough to prove she’s worth taking seriously. She may only be 19, but I think we can all agree she’s wise beyond her years.
(Images via Hunger Magazine)
