Zendaya, 19, is one of a handful of teen actresses who is smart, articulate about important issues and just really interesting to watch. (I would include Amandla Stenberg, Rowan Blanchard, and Chloe Moretz in that group.) I especially like Zendaya for schooling Giuliana Rancic after Rancic mocked Zendaya’s dreadlocks at the Oscars last year. It seems like that controversy gets brought up every time Zendaya gets interviewed, but she doesn’t mind and she’s happy to educate people about it. In a new interview with People Magazine promoting the haircare line CHI, which she’s represented since last year, Zendaya revisits that controversy. She also talks about changing her look frequently and what that means to her.

On learning to work with her hair
Growing up, I wasn’t very confident with my curls. I didn’t like my hair because it wasn’t like the hair that girls around me had. And nobody really knew what to do with my hair. My mom is white and my dad is black – they have very different hair types. So we learned how to manage my hair together and I also watched YouTube videos to find easy styles to do.

On having fun with her look
When I am on the red carpet, I am not afraid to have fun with my look. A lot of the styles I wear are inspired by Cher, Joan Jett, Grace Jones and Diana Ross. When people see me, I want them to understand the character that I am that night. I want them to have a moment.

On her response to being mocked for her Oscars dreads
I think a lot of lessons were learned from a lot of different people. I didn’t know that people were going to pay attention to the paragraph that I wrote on Instagram. I was just thinking that someone out there is going to read this, and it’ll stop them from being insensitive. I was raised to stand up and say something when you feel that something is wrong. And also, I have a lot of little nieces and nephews and I want them to know how to handle conflict and come out of it looking like an intelligent young person.

On experimenting with her look and becoming confident
When I was younger, I was afraid to experiment with my look because I was worried about what people thought. But as I’ve gotten older and become more confident in myself, I just don’t care. I like who I am and I hope that I can help a lot of otter young women get there. I think that a big part of that is showing that you can dress and wear your hair however you want.

[From People, print edition, February 1, 2016]

Zendaya not only does her own hair, she also does her own makeup for events and it always looks incredible. Similar to her hair, she’s said that she learned to do her own makeup through YouTube tutorials which just makes me think that I need to step up my game. She’s clearly learned the art of makeup application to the point where she always looks so polished. Plus she switches up her look all the time both with styling and fashion and somehow just makes it work. I think attitude is the key, as she pretty much explains here. She’s a great example for young women and I’d love to see her cross over into film.

Ooh and after I wrote this story I found the news that Zendaya is a new face for CoverGirl! She’s an excellent choice and joins current CoverGirl celebrities Katy Perry, Queen Latifah, Sofia Vergara, Ellen DeGeneres and Janelle Monae among others. Also let me put a word in for CoverGirl FlameOut mascara. It’s so inexpensive and yet it’s better than some of the high end brands I’ve tried.