Lupita Nyong'o Cries, Inspires Praise Hands at Women's Conference

Lupita Nyong’o, who really needs to give a seminar on public speaking, was among the women who delivered a keynote address at the Massachusetts Conference for Women in Boston on Thursday night. Another day, another amazing speech.

The fear that Nyong’o would fade into oblivion post-Oscar has been somewhat alleviated by the fact she’s continuing to land high-profile roles in Hollywood—she’s starring in Star Wars: The Force Awakens. During her MCW speech, Nyong’o teared up while telling the audience:

“What I wanted more than anything was to make believe for a living. When I watched The Color Purple and watched Oprah and Whoopi Goldberg, a seed was planted in my heart to becoming an actor, but I dared not water it in public… Nobody I knew around me was acting for a living. In school, it wasn’t one of the professions you learned about. It didn’t help that we only had one TV station and it aired very boring programming as a child.”