“It’s not that I’m fearless. It’s just that I’ve made friends with fear and I make space for it. The same way I make space for loneliness.”

From her dazzling red-carpet looks to her unforgettable roles in shows like Black-ish and Girlfriends, Tracee Ellis Ross is a true force of nature. With a career that spans decades and a style that is both iconic and uniquely her own, she has captivated audiences with her infectious energy and effortless charm. But beneath the glamour and comedic timing is a woman of profound depth and thoughtful introspection—a woman who has spent a lifetime on a journey of self-discovery.

In this interview with Ross for her new travel series Solo Traveling with Tracee Ellis Ross on The Roku Channel—which already been renewed for Season 2 as the show broke viewership records for Roku Originals—we get to explore the mindset of a self-proclaimed woman who finds her greatest adventures not in daring escapades, but in the thrilling, high-stakes world of her career and her beloved solo travels, which she has been doing since she was 24. 

“My career is the adventure that I go on,” she reveals. “Solo trips are not about adventure. My solo trips are really about spending time with myself and decompressing and sort of being in a state of being.” Through her candid reflections that she shares while recording herself during her down time, Ross dismantles the conventional narrative of success and fulfillment, revealing how she has embraced her life on her own terms. 

She unpacks her relationship with fear, loneliness and the societal pressures surrounding motherhood and partnership, revealing how her experiences have allowed her to discover a deeper sense of self. Ross invites us into her world of “being,” showing us what it means to find freedom and peace not in the absence of fear, but in making a home for it and how the act of “overpacking” is, in her own unique way, a celebration of joy. She explains, “my overpacking has never hurt anybody. It doesn’t hurt anybody. It just brings joy. So bring it.” It is through this refreshing and honest lens that we get to see the woman behind the public persona—a woman who is “reaping the benefits” of finally living as her authentic self, a self she says “was afraid to come out” for a long time.

What’s the one thing you did on these trips that you never thought you would do? 

“First of all, I’m not an adventurous person. My career is the adventure that I go on. That’s where the high stakes stuff happens in my life. I honestly think the most adventurous thing I did was do this show and the fact that I was deciding to go on solo trips with a camera crew (laughs). That felt out of my comfort zone. That felt like the experience that was new and I would say that was the most adventurous thing I did. Solo trips are not about adventure. My solo trips are really about, spending time with myself and decompressing and sort of being in a state of being.”

For many it’s terrifying going on solo adventures. Is this something you feared or took great courage doing?

“I’ve been solo traveling since I was 24 or 25. I take at least one, possibly two solo trips a year. I think there’s all different kinds of solo travel. I think people solo travel to meet people. People solo travel to go on adventures. People solo travel to try things they’ve never tried before, people solo travel to decompress and get away from their busy lives. So there’s all different versions of solo travel. I also say to people, I’ve always been comfortable doing things on my own. I eat dinner in restaurants by myself and so I tell people that are afraid to solo travel that one of the things to do to try and see if that’s something you can experience is to go to dinner by yourself first at a restaurant. And if you’re scared to go, try a Tuesday or Wednesday night at 06:00. And then if you can do that and feel good about it, go on a Friday or a Saturday night at 8PM when everybody’s at the restaurant. If you can do that and you feel good about it, then you might wanna try a solo trip. You can start and go as slow as the slowest parts of you and take a short trip. You can go somewhere that you’ve already been with other people so you know what to expect and not be in some place that’s foreign that you don’t really know. And then you can slowly work your way up to going and experiencing places that you have never experienced. I think the key is asking yourself what kind of solo traveler do you want to be. What is the experience that you wanna go for?”

So what kind of solo traveler are you? What is the experience you look for?

“I look for decompression. I go to relax. I go to be quiet. I go to not have a schedule. It’s exactly what you see in the show. That’s the kind of traveler I am. And, I have a really full and busy life that every hour is scheduled, often seven days a week and so I use my solo trips as an opportunity to integrate and process the many things that I’ve experienced to sort of let the dust settle in my life and to wake up when I wanna wake up and eat what I wanna eat and go at my own pace. And for me, that is a big luxury, the luxury of being.”

They say solo travel changes you, and I feel like you’re never the same person after every trip. What’s something you discovered about your core self through solo travel? 

“I think I discovered that I really enjoy my own company, and that I like to pack a lot. I overpack a lot of things. This is what I always say. Like, I’ve had so much shame in my life around my overpacking, and I’m like, my overpacking has never hurt anybody. It doesn’t hurt anybody. It just brings joy. So bring it.”

In episode one you said this phase of your life is a transcendent time—fighting with your own grief around not being a mother and not having long relationships but that has allowed you to explore your own humanity—how so?

“Exactly what I think you see in the show. It’s that I have the freedom to not hide behind other responsibilities or places where I have to be accountable in taking care of other people. And instead, it leaves me the freedom to really experience and discover parts of myself that, otherwise, I don’t know if I would. And that goes from solo traveling to building Pattern as a company. The time that I’m able to spend doing things, I imagine some of those same things would have happened or would be happening if I had some of those other things, but I don’t. And so the truth is I don’t have much to compare it to. But I do know that I hear other people, they’re like, now that my kids are grown, I’m able to go back to my dreams and figure out what it is I wanna do with the rest of my life and that’s just what my life has been. And I take that with a lot of responsibility and I think it’s important for me to use the bandwidth that I have to join the chorus of people trying to make the world a more just and safe place, where everybody is safe to be free and be who they are. And so I don’t take the freedom of my life for granted, but I do think there’s a sense of space and ability to take different kinds of healthy risk because I don’t have children.”

In one of your interviews, you said that it took you many years to become who you are now.  It seems like you’re enjoying this phase and this stage of your life. What did being an artist or a performer mean to you at the start of your career, and what does it mean to you now? 

“You know I think I was attempting at the beginning of my career to become someone who is worth something. I’m not sure. It’s like when you’re young, it’s like, this is my dream, and I’m going for my dream. And I think it’s about being honest, I feel like I spent so much time when I was younger trying to be who I thought I was supposed to be versus being who I was, and it took me so long to discover who I was, then get courageous enough to be that person. And now I’m reaping the benefits, and I’m actually living as that person. But for a long time, I mean, I’ve always been this person, but she was afraid to come out.”

Solo travel scares a lot of people, and, clearly, you’re very comfortable with it. So then what scares you?

“Oh my god. Everything. So here’s the thing, and here’s the myth about fear and anxiety. I think it’s important. It tells you to take your hand off of a hot stove. But, also, there’s just anxiety of being revealed, of being shamed, of somebody knowing you, of somebody seeing you, of being honest, being vulnerable. Those things don’t frighten me. I really live for that currency. So for me, the life that I have chosen is filled with high stakes things, hosting award shows live for television. Now these are things that are high stakes. They’re not where my body is being put in danger. This is very different. So anxiety that comes up around those things. But I’ve gotten comfortable with fear a long time ago. It’s not that I’m fearless. It’s just that I’ve made friends with fear and I make space for it. The same way I make space for loneliness. I just make space for it. And I say hello, and you are not running the show right now, but you can be here. You just need to be quiet.”

I love that. Thank you for sharing that. If your suitcase could talk, what would be the funniest story to tell about your packing habits for these trips?

“I think my suitcase would be like, just get another bag. I’m too heavy. You’re gonna break me. I think my suitcase would tell a lot of stories. That’s a funny and cute question. I like it.”

Do you have any travel pet peeves?

“Oh, yeah. People on the airplane who take their shoes off and have their just feet sitting around, people who go into the airplane bathroom without shoes on. People that cough and don’t cover their mouths. I mean, be aware. You are one among many in a tin can in the air.”

Solo Traveling with Tracee Ellis Ross is streaming now on The Roku Channel.