Great strides can be seen or unseen, and they can be made for others or for yourself.
That’s the message Jada Pinkett Smith conveyed during her speech when she was given the Trailblazer Award at the 2019 MTV Movie & TV Awards on Monday.
According to a description by MTV, the honor is given to “game-changing creators with fresh and fearless voices in entertainment.” But at first Pinkett Smith didn’t think she was deserving before later realizing there were different ways to trail blaze.
“It’s a trip because when MTV called me to receive an award for trailblazing, I was like, ‘All right now, I don’t know if I deserve this quite yet but I’m really glad MTV thinks so,'” she began.
“Then I had to think I said, ‘Jada, why don’t you think you deserve this award?‘ It’s because I was comparing myself to all the many trailblazers that I admired,” the actress continued. “And I realized, OK, maybe we do have something in common.”
The Baltimore native then said one can be their own trailblazer when it comes to getting past mental barricades.
“Often we applaud the trails people blaze in the external world that we can see, but rarely do we applaud the trails that are blazed in the hidden rooms of the mind that are full of uncertainty, false beliefs and pain,” explained Pinkett Smith.
“It’s these internal obstacles that must be challenged in order to muster the courage to forge new paths that we can see in the world,” she added. “Every last person must do that at some capacity. So that means that every single person in this room is trailblazing, whether it’s within or without.”
People were definitely inspired by the actress’ words, and they let her know about it.
“Girl that speech last night was everything!!! 💖💖💖💖,” someone tweeted.
“My girl! I am a better human being having your example in my life! Love you!” wrote another.
“Ahhhhh I love you and your family!!! You are amazing. Such a strong woman and role model for all of us women out there,” a third person tweeted.
Pinkett Smith has been given credit for her philanthropic work, which was brought up by Tiffany Haddish, who introduced her on Monday night.
The “Set It Off” Actress has also been praised for her groundbreaking talk show “Red Table Talk,” where she tackles weighty issues like relationships, family, addiction and racism.
Pinkett Smith hosts the show with her daughter Willow Smith and mother Adrienne Banfield-Jones.
