March 21, 2026
Tracee Ellis Ross
On Identity, Impact, & Joy
We stepped into the world of a creative force redefining representation and driving cultural change with joy, power, and style.
“A lot of the choices that I make in my career, both acting and entrepreneurial, are based in me having a sense of how we are connected as humanity and wanting to create A space where people feel like they can and are safe to be themselves.”
Tracee Ellis Ross
On Identity, Impact, & Joy
March 21, 2026
There is a version of Tracee Ellis Ross that the world tried to write for her: Diana Ross’s daughter, a type rather than a talent, a niche market not worth serving. What she has spent her career doing, she told a packed Richmond Forum audience, is refusing that script.
“I gave up trying to be who people think I should be,” Ross said. “It’s taken me years to become myself, to know myself, and have the courage to be that person.”
That sense of hard-won wholeness was the animating thread of a conversation moderated by fellow actress and trailblazer Daphne Maxwell Reid. From her eight-season runs on “Girlfriends” and “Black-ish” to the founding of Pattern Beauty, Ross traced a life built on the conviction that showing up fully as oneself is both a personal imperative and a radical act.
It started, she suggested, in childhood. Growing up as the daughter of Diana Ross meant learning early that the world’s attention wasn’t really about her. “People were paying attention to me because I was a piece of someone they loved. It wasn’t about me,” she said. Rather than shrink from that realization, she used it as a prompt for self-examination. “From a young age, I was really trying to figure out who I was. What do I believe in? What do I want to do? How do I make people feel?”
“I gave up trying to be who people think I should be. It’s taken me years to become myself, to know myself, and have the courage to be that person.”
– Tracee Ellis Ross
Her mother modeled something essential. “The courage to be that kind of woman — to have elegance, to be smart and funny, and to own my intelligence with a sense of pride,” Ross said. “I grew up in an atmosphere where having my own point of view was celebrated. I think that was the beginning of having courage.”
That courage would prove professionally necessary. When Kenya Barris created “Black-ish” and told Ross he had written the role of Dr. Rainbow Johnson for her. Once cast, she pushed to make Rainbow more than what she called “wife wallpaper.” When she noticed the character was perpetually doing laundry in scrubs after long hospital shifts, she and co-star Anthony Anderson quietly renegotiated the domestic labor on screen. “I do follow my heart,” she said, “but I would much prefer to fail knowing that I listened to what was true for me than to fail having played what other people wanted of me.”
The same instinct drove her into entrepreneurship. Pattern Beauty, which she co-founded after a decade of development, emerged from frustration with an industry that had long ignored the roughly 73% of the global population with curly or tight-textured hair. She tested 75 product samples on herself during the filming of Black-ish, videotaping her hair in and out of the shower to give feedback when she didn’t yet have the technical language to describe what she was seeing.
Building Pattern also changed how she understood her own artistry. “It has changed how I am an actor,” she said. “It makes me understand the other perspective of what the commodity is.”
Even fashion, she explained, became a site of that same negotiation between external pressure and internal truth. “I used to use clothing as armor, as a way to protect myself from the microaggressions of either sexism or racism,” she said. “Since then, fashion has become a way that I wear my insides on the outside.”
Asked what she wants her next chapter to look like, Ross didn’t hesitate. “With the climate that we are in, I am aiming for more kindness, more joy, more connection, more community, more love.”
The most clarifying moment of the evening may have come when a young audience member asked how to navigate a multiracial identity. “The world is going to try to define you all the time,” she said. “You get to decide who you are.”
“The mutual respect these women have was so obvious. Ms. Ross exudes confidence and personality. Her voice is captivating and held my attention throughout the program. What a great role model for young women!”
– Subscriber Survey Comment
About Tracee Ellis Ross
Tracee Ellis Ross is an award-winning actress, producer, founder, and CEO.
Ross is a leader whose cultural fluency and skilled storytelling allow her to forge meaningful connections with audiences and customers alike.
For eight seasons, Ross starred in ABC’s critically acclaimed comedy series “Black-ish,” earning a Golden Globe Award, five NAACP Image Awards, and nominations for Emmy Awards, Screen Actors Guild Awards, and Critics Choice Awards for her portrayal as Dr. Rainbow Johnson. Ross also starred in the series “Girlfriends” for eight seasons, earning four NAACP Image Awards and a BET Comedy Award for her portrayal of Joan Clayton.
Ross is the owner, founder, and co-CEO of PATTERN Beauty, the global multimillion-dollar hair and body care brand she created for the curly, coily, and tight-textured community and every body. With PATTERN, Ross is changing the paradigm of how the textured hair community is marketed to and supported. The company’s content and messaging are a celebration of Black beauty and joy, and that commitment extends beyond product, with PATTERN supporting organizations and programs that empower women and people of color.
Ross is currently in production for Season 2 of the Roku original series “Solo Traveling with Tracee Ellis Ross,” which follows her on transformative solo adventures where she explores the beauty, fashion, design, food, and culture of each destination. She also recently announced a multiyear first-look deal with Fox Entertainment Studios via her production company, Joy Mill Entertainment, which is dedicated to creating entertaining, culture-bending stories centered around identity and joy.
She is a powerful voice for joy, self-acceptance, inclusivity, and equity, and has been recognized with multiple prestigious honors throughout her career, including honorary Doctorate degrees from both Spelman College and her alma mater, Brown University.
Q&A Moderator
Fellow actress, trailblazer, and iconic TV mom Daphne Maxwell Reid moderated the evening’s conversation and audience Q&A. Reid is beloved by millions for her role as Aunt Vivian on “The Fresh Prince of Bel-Air.”
Additional Resources
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The Phases of Self-Exploration, The Phases of Joy
Flaunt
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Dating Should Be about Pursuing Joy with Tracee Ellis Ross
“IMO with Michelle Obama and Craig Robinson” podcast, Higher Ground
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Tracee Ellis Ross On Why Beauty Should Be Juicy And Joyful
Elle
Ross on her early acting career
Join us Next season
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