Blake Lively Shares Her Mother’s Advice on Taking Risks

Actress Blake Lively‘s career is in full swing with recent hits like The Shallows and Café Society – and it might be all thanks to some advice she received years ago.

Speaking to CTV’s eTalk on Wednesday ahead of the L’Oréal Women of Worth gala, Lively revealed the words of wisdom she once received from her mom, Elaine Lively.

“Whatever it was, whether I was doing a school project, I was doing something creative, she would always say you can’t mess it up,” shared Lively. “I mean, I could mess it up really severely, but just the fact that she told me I couldn’t almost made me feel like I couldn’t.”

Added the 29-year-old, “So I took risks and I would do things I otherwise would have limited myself with.”

Lively now has two children of her own with husband Ryan Reynolds: a 5-month old daughter and her big sister James, 2.

In addition to her role as mom, Lively says she embraces the opportunity allotted by her celebrity and social media to “stand for the things that I believe in.”

She told eTalk, “I do think we all believe in the same thing, which is everybody wants happiness, everybody wants peace, everybody wants to feel safe and secure, but everybody has different ways of going about it.”

Taking to one such platform, Lively recapped the L’Oreal gala, and the honorees.

“I’m so honored to have spent this significant day with 10 women in Canada who’ve dedicated their lives to helping others,” she wrote on Instagram.

She continued, “They’re making our world safer, kinder, smarter, and more loving. We are all #womenofworth but these women give that phrase extra meaning today. Ladies: Cheryl, Eva, Diana, Nayiri, Audrey, Kirstin, Betty, Shlezia, Lia, and Abi, Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. All my love, gratitude, and admiration.”

This article originally appeared on People.com