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Source: Derrick Salters/WENN.com / WENN

Missy Elliott is more than a mega-producer, futuristic performer and hit-maker, she’s a conquerer.

The Virginia native opened up about the trials she overcame to succeed in the new cover story for Marie Claire. 

One of the secret ingredients to Missy’s enduring career is her ability to literally speak her goals into existence.

“It’s funny because I was just telling somebody that everything I spoke, I’ve done,” she told the mag in the interview.

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“And that’s how powerful the tongue is. I used to sit in the house and act like I was having conversations with Janet [Jackson] and Michael [Jackson] and Madonna and whoever. I then would go and say my thank yous for award shows that I hadn’t made it to yet. I had speeches, and I would be in the mirror thanking my mama.”

It was important for Missy to have such a big imagination, considering her dreams were completely beyond her financial circumstances when she was growing up. Nevertheless she persisted, even when her family suggested that she give up and do something else.

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“Trust me, I was broke. And my family would be like, ‘You better find something to do.’ They told me to go in the Army. I’m like, ‘I’m too fat to go in the Army. Where I am running to?’” she told Marie Claire.

“Everything just seemed so impossible at the time because we didn’t have the technology to be able to reach out and put your stuff online and people get a chance to see it. So you have to be at the right place at the right time.”

Now that she has been in the game for decades, shaping both music and culture as a whole, Missy wants the new class of innovators and creators to be fearless.

SEE ALSO: Missy Elliott And Justin Timberlake Receive Honorary Doctorates From Berklee College Of Music [PHOTOS]

“I do want to make the generation behind feel like, don’t be afraid, because we are in a time where so many people can be artists. Now you can just post up, and if it gets to the right person, then it’s just viral. I want to be able to encourage those who don’t go viral,” she explained. “A lot of people out there that have 452 or 100 followers may be talented. I want them to not feel like they have to do what everybody else is doing to gain that attention. Just be you. It’s going to catch hold somewhere.”

This story was originally posted on madamenoire.com.

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Missy Elliott Sounds Off On Her Legendary Career: “Everything I Spoke, I’ve Done”  was originally published on getuperica.com