I initially started making videos about my hair because I was struggling to style it and didn't know where to find help. Similarly, I started creating comedy content and doing characters and talking about things that were important to me because I didn't find a place to do that in the career that I wanted as an actress.

I have been talking about social issues on YouTube for a long time now. I think it's very important in terms of being able to reach people around the world and people who have never been exposed to certain topics or are maybe misinformed about certain things.

I can recall an instance where I was in a meeting at work giving a presentation in front of my board of directors. I was taking questions at the end and someone asks, 'Is that your hair real?' The man then reached out and started stroking my hair. It was completely bizarre to me.

If I know you, and you want to touch my hair, you should ask me first, and most of the time I'll say yes. But if I don't know you, and you just reach out and touch me without asking or touch while simultaneously asking, I'm going to give you a side eye.

'Decoded' is definitely close to my heart.

Unfortunately, oftentimes people hire and give opportunities to people that look like them. They don't realize how much their own internal lives or privilege gets in the way of looking for people outside of the traditional spaces where they always find people.

In many ways, being yourself is dispelling stereotypes.

My dream has always been to be in entertainment.

When I started in 2007, YouTube was just a fun hobby for others and myself.

I left acting school really hoping that I could be on a television show of some sort, working in movies in Hollywood.

I create videos for my YouTube channel Chescaleigh and for 'Decoded,' a series with MTV.

Now I have a standard for how I make sure people do not speak to me in a way that I feel uncomfortable with. When I was younger, I didn't have that. I was like, 'Try not to make waves.' I wanted everybody to like me, and so I stifled a lot of the discomfort that I had.

I think the beauty of the Internet is that it's giving a lot of people the opportunity to reach people around the world that they never would have been able to, and for people to tell their own stories where they don't see themselves reflected in mainstream media, or the media is misrepresenting the truth, right.

The Internet is a blessing and a curse. I mean, it's a place where lots of people can express themselves, which is amazing, but it's a place where a lot of people can express themselves that probably should keep those expressions to themselves.

For me, at least with my parents, I feel that they wanted me to have all the opportunities that they did not have, and for them, that meant going to private school.

My consciousness is a process, and that includes my relationship with my husband. His being white doesn't make me any less black or invested in black issues, the same way him being a man doesn't make me any less of a feminist.

I'm somewhat wary of being called 'woke' because it feels absolute in a way that I don't think is realistic.

With 'Decoded,' the goal is to just keep pushing forward and challenging ourselves to tackle important subjects in creative and funny ways.

Black women are so very often stereotyped in pop culture.

YouTube is an amazing platform to talk about social issues because it gives people the ability to tell their own stories and reach audience around the world who may otherwise never be exposed to these people and conversations.

I think, even before social media, it was really hard to not look at other classmates and say, 'Well I wish I looked like her.' Or even to look at celebrities and wish that 'I looked like them.'

Self-esteem doesn't have to just be about the way you look; it can be about your talents and passions. All of those things can build someone's confidence and show them that they have self worth and they are important.

I think society perpetuates a lot of mixed messages about what it means to be beautiful for all women, but especially for black women and women of color.

It's important to take time away from the Internet as much as possible. For me, I love working out, and my husband and I do it together in the mornings! And it's really our time to check in with each other, but it's also our time to really not think about work or what's happening on the Internet.