QUINTA BRUNSON

The Emmy-winning creator and star of Abbott Elementary sits down with Oprah to talk about the power of intention, the question every woman. should ask herself, and the New Year's resolution she's not making.

When I invited Quinta Brunson to sit down for an interview in my garden in Montecito, I knew what you probably knew about her: She started making comedy videos, which led to writing a few pilots for streaming services, and along the way, she got several acting roles. Then she created Abbott Elementary. And doesn't everybody know this show? It's got fans of all ages, and many of them are Emmy voters: Quinta was the youngest Black woman nominated in the Outstanding Lead Actress in a Comedy Series category, and the first Black woman nominated for three categories in the comedy category (she won for Outstanding Writing for a Comedy Series). But what I also knew about Quinta, whose star is bursting wide, is that she just turned 33 years old and is fully ready to receive everything that's happening, even at such velocity. Because my rise started at exactly the same time I know that when it comes this way, it means you are fully ready to receive it.

OPRAH: Congratulations on the huge success of Abbott Elementary, the Emmy nominations, and your Emmy...but this has been coming since that first dance recital when you saw your family, all of them standing there cheering you?

QUINTA BRUNSON: Yeah. Kismet. Performing and writing and creating, producing I feel like I'm still doing it for my family. They're the best focus group because growing up, we all as a family used to laugh together despite being a multigenerational household. Having these different people with vastly different senses of humor, vastly different educational levels. The programs that brought us together were meaningful to me.

OW: This is what's interesting to me: For Abbott Elementary to have struck the nerve that it has, you had to have a really clear intention. You know, intention is like my religion. So what was your intention in creating that show?