Poll: Get Your Career Advice from Women in Hollywood

Sophia Amoruso

"Strike while the iron is hot. Opportunities come and go and you have to know when to take advantage of them or they will disappear into the universe."

Shiri Appleby

"You have to be your own advocate. You have to realize that you are your business and you're the president of your business and you have to treat it as such."

Kathy Bates

"Don't trust anybody! Also, know with whom you are having the pleasure, as my late manager used to say. That's a less harsh way of saying don't trust anybody. That's a flaw I have: I treat everybody like they're on a pedestal and I probably should just take a minute to judge the situation first."

Nina Dobrev

"To stick to your guns, whatever you believe in. I used to be a pushover in many ways and do what I thought people wanted me to do and say and agree when I didn't. But whatever is important to you is what matters. If you follow your intuitions and have something to fight for, it will always prevail. And if it doesn't, it wasn't meant to be and you've got to let go and have a cocktail."

Vivica A. Fox

"Make sure you have your own money to invest in yourself. Whether that's for a passion project or you want to get into branding, invest in yourself. Or get investors who really believe in you. No one can ever take it away from you then."

Lucy Hale

"People always say 'Your reputation matters.' As I've gotten older, I've realized that everyone in this town knows everyone in some weird way. There's these weird connections. Being kind and being professional goes a long way. ... How you present yourself under stressful circumstances on a daily basis speaks volumes. Always be really cool and nice and professional."

Makenzie Leigh

"When I saw Billy Lynn's Long Halftime Walk for the first time, our director Ang Lee didn't ask me if it was good or bad or really what I thought. He just asked me if I thought he took any risks. I was like, 'Right. I'm adopting that forever.' It's a really good way to look at a project and I forget it all the time. You always think 'Was I good?' or 'Was I bad?' not 'Did I take a risk?' That's the genius of Ang Lee for you."

Helen Mirren

"Punctuality. It is important to me. It's not to other people, but it is to me. And it's worked for me. I really try to be on time. I try to fulfill whatever it is that's required of me. But it starts with punctuality."

Niecy Nash

"The most important is that it is a business. It's not a friendship and you need to get everything in writing. I learned that the hard way. It's not show friends; it's show business. You have to be about the business. Some people want the shiny parts – the glitz and the glamour – but the business part is where the money is. That's where the better parts of things will live for you."

Yara Shahidi

"It's all about the art. I've done guest roles and been in movies, but being a series regular is so different. There's no hopping in and out of a project. But what clears my mind is that I'm here to act. That's why they pay, so that's what I'm going to do."

Kristen Stewart

"It might sound really obvious, but your desire should coincide with the way you make business decisions. I know it's the thing to be very uneffusive in business, but I really disagree with that. I find that whenever I go against instincts and whatever my emotions are at the time, I usually regret it."

Constance Zimmer

"I constantly repeat this because I think it's true and I think it works in any business, whether you're an actor or a journalist or whatever. You have to own your own self worth and your self value. So many people are constantly trying to be what they think works. But if all of us were more confident in ourselves and realized that we're exactly where we're supposed to be, we would all do much better. ... It's also important for women to support women. I've learned being in a cast of mostly women that when you support each other you can pretty much do anything. Because who is stopping you? You don't win from somebody else's failure. You succeed when your best friend succeeds or your cohort succeeds. We need to keep supporting each other."