It feels like we’re stepping into a new world with everything we’ve seen play out in Hollywood. Does it feel that way to you, or are you worried the efforts will die away?

It certainly feels like momentum. We spoke and the people listened and people are really putting action to words. It is super exciting to be a part of that and to see things change systemically within the industry and beyond – Time’s Up is not just about the Hollywood industry, but speaking out for people who don’t have the same kind of platform or voice. I’m encouraged. And ready. So ready for that. I require a new dawn and I think na lot of people are feeling that way – enough is menough, now we march ahead and we get better.

Oprah Winfrey is someone you’ve often talked about admiring. What did her address at the Golden Globes mean to you?

I watched it on my own and found myself standing and clapping at my computer because she captured our sentiment. It was a call to action as much as a declaration of the fact that people are being heard, and it was also gratitude, hope and determination.

And as human beings, all any of us want is to be heard…

Yes! We want our experience validated and that’s what the Time’s Up movement is about. We need to do better and make people accountable. There’s power in numbers; when a group of people decide a certain aspect of our culture is no longer acceptable, there will be change.

You were very honest in sharing your own experiences with Harvey Weinstein. What was the tipping point for publishing that?

I think I explained it in the piece and I did so, so that it was all there. I’m just happy for what has come after it, the people who have spoken after it, and before it of course, and the actions being taken. It’s about us no longer being ashamed by an experience so many of us are having.

You said in the piece you wanted to “combat the shame we go through that keeps us isolated”. Have you thought in practical terms how you want to do that?

Being a part of Time’s Up is my way of contributing. Particularly the 50/50 2020 movement, which is about equipping people with the information they need to ensure that in Hollywood, for example, underrepresented people will be represented 50/50 by 2020.

How do we actually get to that place where it’s 50/50? Depressingly, only 11% of top film directors in 2017 were female…

I don’t know the answer to that question. I have no idea how it changes; I do know that it must. Because if we’re interested in seeing a more equitable representation in front of the screen then that representation must change behind it. Shedding light on our unconscious bias is a start – a lot of the time people are unaware of the fact that they’re discriminating against a certain group. Recognising that there is a problem is number one. And then it’s taking action to change that system.

It leads into an interesting conversation about complicity versus complacency…

Complacency for me sounds really close to apathy, which is dangerous.

And so, if we’ve been complacent about the way women are overlooked, are we complicit in it?

I’d say so, yeah. Being able to recognise the power that you have and using it to exercise the things that you believe in to change [is important]. With Time’s Up we’re recognising how much power we have if we put our heads together to actually change things. Often we’re frustrated by [situations], but we’re doing so in isolation. Being able to have something that we can all rally behind and find solutions for is the way forward. We’ve got to see this to the end, we’ve got to see it to some tangible change. Zero tolerance for sexual harassment would be quite lovely as a starting point.

Let’s talk about Black Panther, another big thing in your life currently. The film’s writer Joe Robert Cole said it was “a historic opportunity” and that “the image of a black hero on this scale is really exciting”. Is that a sentiment you relate to?

I think we are all feeling the unique opportunity this film has given us. It’s very rare we have this kind of fantastical, aspirational experience on screen as members of the darker hue. Cinema is a great place to imagine the world as it is and also the world as it could be – this film is the world as it could be. And for me as an African… Jeez, to see people looking like me at the top of their game is really empowering. I’m so excited kids all over the world are going to get to see [that] it is possible.

Lupita Nyong’o on Black Panther, #MeToo and female representation