Actress is a 'rebel with a cause' for Marie Claire's September issue

Ex-Disney actress

In another win for the black girls, Zendayascores a coveted September issue cover, this time with lifestyle magazine Marie Claire. The beautiful actress poses in a leopard print fur coat with her hair wrapped into a chic up-do.

Her piercing eyes were lined with black winged eyeliner in keeping with the retro feel of the cover and the rest of her makeup was kept minimal allowing her natural beauty to shine through.

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Read excerpts from the interview below:

On using her influence responsibly: I’m very aware that I don’t know everything, but I do try my best with the platform that I have, knowing how many people look to me. I try my best to inform myself and live my best life so that I can inspire my fans to live their best lives, be more educated, and learn for themselves.

And I try to do it in a way that’s not telling people what to think but opening up their eyes to possibilities, ideas maybe they never thought about. I try to look at it as a responsibility more than anything.

On what drives her: I want longevity in my career, and I try to always think about how to create that. But I also like to live in the moment and do what feels right, right now. I think I’m fueled by—oh, wow, here’s a corny moment again. I get fueled by the different people I’m able to positively affect.

When people come up to you, and instead of saying, “I loved the last project you did,” they’re like, “I appreciate that you said this,” that makes me feel good. When I’m able to do great things in my career, and fortunately be financially blessed, and then give it away and watch the money actually do good shit, that is the purpose.

On how she processes challenges and difficulties: The one thing I struggle with is I sometimes get so afraid to make a mistake. Like, I want to be perfect, I want to make all the right decisions, and when I don’t, it stresses me out. But I can’t allow myself to be scared of not always doing the right thing.

I will make mistakes in my career, but I can try my best to make the best decisions that I can and learn from my mistakes. Like, “I’m about to kill it on this next go-round because now I know better.”