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“When you love and accept yourself, when you know who really cares about you, and when you learn from your mistakes, then you stop caring about what people who don’t know you think.” One of the most influential women in the entertainment industry today, Beyoncé has earned her place in the spotlight at only 37 years old. She launched her career two decades ago with Destiny’s Child. The group became one of the best-selling girl groups in music history before they broke up in 2006. Beyoncé launched her solo career and hasn’t looked back since especially after marrying music icon Jay-Z.

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1980s to Stardom

Beyoncé Giselle Knowles came into this world on September 4, 1981, in Houston, Texas where her parents instantly recognized her natural talent. Her father, Mathew, encouraged Beyoncé to take the stage, so the youngster competed in various singing and dancing competitions throughout Houston. By the 1990s, her talents were undeniable when she joined Kelly Rowland and Michelle Williams to form Destiny’s Child. With her father managing the group, Destiny’s Child became one of the best-selling girl groups in history and made Beyoncé a household name as she ventured into acting with credits in Austin Powers in Goldmember (2002).

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Although she was still with Destiny’s Child, Beyoncé launched her solo career in 2003 with the release of Dangerously in Love, which earned five Grammy Awards thanks to hit singles like “Crazy in Love” and “Baby Boy.” After Destiny’s Child broke up in 2006, Beyoncé wasted no time and released her second album, B’Day, featuring singles “Irreplaceable” and “Beautiful Liar.” She expanded her reach with credits in The Pink Panther (2006) and Dreamgirls (2006) before tying the knot with music icon and rapper Jay-Z in 2008.

On the heels of her nuptials with Jay-Z, Beyoncé starred as Etta James in Cadillac Records (2008) and debuted her alter-ego, Sasha Fierce, on her third album, I Am… Sasha Fierce (2008). The album earned a record-breaking six Grammy Awards in 2010 and signified Beyoncé’s brief hiatus from the spotlight as she took over her career and returned to the studio to work on her next album, 4 (2011). She followed up with her next album in 2013 and received critical acclaim for her sixth album, Lemonade, in 2016.

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With each album setting new records, Beyoncé established herself as one of the most influential icons in the industry. “When I first started, 21 years ago, I was told that it was hard for me to get onto covers of magazines because black people did not sell. Clearly that has been proven a myth,” she said after winning 23 Grammy Awards and 24 MTV Video Music Awards. “It’s important to me that I help open doors for younger artists. There are so many cultural and societal barriers that I like to do what I can to level the playing field, to present a different point of view for people who may feel like their voices don’t matter.”

In 2018, Beyoncé gave her fans what they wanted with the release of Everything Is Love in collaboration with her husband. The album marks a shift in Beyoncé’s career and reflects her musical talents as well as her incredible journey. “I’ve been through hell and back, and I’m grateful for every scar,” she says. “I have experienced betrayals and heartbreaks in many forms. I have had disappointments in business partnerships as well as personal ones, and they all left me feeling neglected, lost, and vulnerable. Through it all I have learned to laugh and cry and grow. I look at the woman I was in my 20s and I see a young lady growing into confidence but intent on pleasing everyone around her. I now feel so much more beautiful, so much sexier, so much more interesting. And so much more powerful.”

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Life Outside the Spotlight

In recent years, Beyoncé has spent more time away from the spotlight to focus on her life at home with Jay-Z and their three children. She married Jay-Z in a quiet ceremony on April 4, 2008, and vowed to keep their relationship private. Doing exactly that, they started a family with the birth of daughter, Blue Ivy Carter, on January 7, 2012. Five years later, they added to their family when Beyoncé announced on Instagram that she was expecting twins. The twins—daughter Rumi and son Sir—were born on June 13, 2017. She introduced the twins to the world on Instagram and later talked about her pregnancy and life as a mother of three in the September 2018 issue of Vogue.

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“My mother taught me the importance of not just of being seen but of seeing myself. As the mother of two girls, it’s important to me that they see themselves too—in books, films, and on runways,” Beyoncé says of her legacy as a parent and artist. “It’s important to me that they see themselves as CEOs, as bosses, and that they know they can write the script for their own lives—that they can speak their minds and they have no ceiling. They don’t have to be a certain type or fit into a specific category. They don’t have to be politically correct as long as they’re authentic, respectful, compassionate, and empathetic…”

Beyoncé says she wants the same things for her son. “I want him to know that he can be strong and brave but that he can also be sensitive and kind,” she says. “I want my son to have a high emotional IQ where he is free to be caring, truthful, and honest. It’s everything a woman wants in a man, and yet we don’t teach it to our boys. I hope to teach my son not to fall victim to what the internet says he should be or how he should love. I want to create better representations for him so that he is allowed to reach his full potential as a man, and to teach him that the real magic he possesses in the world is the power to affirm his own existence.”

That legacy is a big reason why Beyoncé is so selective in her projects. Most recently, she teamed up with Elton John and Tim Rice to write a new song for the end credits of the 2019 remake of The Lion King in addition to voicing Nala. As for what’s next, the 37-year-old Beyoncé says she’s happy with her freedom. “I’m not alive unless I am creating something.”