Val

“My mom responded right away, directly but gently. “I’m going to tell you something that sounds mean,” she began, “but it’s not. You are never gonna look like that.” That was my mom’s style. She would always come down to our level and explain things in ways that were easy to digest. She never spoke to us as if we were stupid, and she never beat around the bush. It’s one of the many reasons I think we are still so close to this day. This was the first time she and I had ever had a conversation about my body, and she was firm. “Not everyone should look the same. Everyone looks different because everyone comes from different families and the reality is that we’re Samoan and you’re a lot bigger than most girls. But that’s not a bad thing. One day you’re gonna love exactly how you look.”
― Drew Afualo, Loud: Accept Nothing Less Than the Life You Deserve

“Women are so intentional in the relationships they build with one another. The love, strength, and encouragement we are capable of giving one another when competition and internalized misogyny cease to disrupt the energetic flow between us are truly magical.”
― Drew Afualo, Loud: Accept Nothing Less Than the Life You Deserve

“I’ve found that even the most well-intentioned and “woke” men still never seem to understand what domestic labor equity actually looks like. Like the men who take out the trash twice a week and put the toilet seat down maybe every third time they pee and think … what? That they deserve a fucking medal for doing the absolute bare minimum?”
― Drew Afualo, Loud: Accept Nothing Less Than the Life You Deserve

“Support from women is a gift. It’s a resource in which you can find not only community, but empowerment. It’s a place you go to recharge and remind yourself that you are loved, important, and valid in this world. That’s what it always has been for me, and that’s what I always want it to be for all of you.”
― Drew Afualo, Loud: Accept Nothing Less Than the Life You Deserve