First-Time Winners Owned the 2025 Golden Globes - Hear the Epic Advice they Gave

The first few days of a new year always leave me searching for fresh advice in unexpected places. Combine that with my unabashed love of awards shows, and last night's Golden Globes had me cheering for first-time winners and their wise words from the stage.

First-time speeches dominated the night, and many held mentor moments worth sharing. As a sparkly start to a brand new year, here are five first-ever winners and the advice they offered to all of us just hours ago:

Zoe Saldaña

“Oh my God. I know I don’t have much time, and I have dyslexia, so I tend to forget when I’m really anxious, and I’m filled with adrenaline, but my heart is full of gratitude," Saldaña began, and her words jumpstarted the emotional night. "This is a first time for me," she continued, "and I’m just so blessed that I’m sharing this moment with Selena [Gomez] and Karla [Sofía Gascón] and Jacques [Audiard] and all of my fellow nominees. I’m in awe of you, your strength, your complexity, your undeniable talent. I know that it is a competition, but all that I have witnessed is just us showing up for each other and celebrating each other, and it’s just so beautiful." - Best Performance by a Female Actor in a Supporting Role in Any Motion Picture, Emilia Pérez

Anna Sawai

"Thank you to the voters for voting for me, even though I would vote for Kathy Bates any day,” Sawai said, nodding to her fellow awardee who - hilariously - ripped up her speech on camera after Sawai won. “Thank you to our incredible writers," Sawai added as she closed out her brief but heartfelt speech. "Without a good script, it’s impossible to give a performance to our fullest potential. Thank you to everyone else. I’m going to thank you later!” - Best Performance by a Female Actor in a TV Drama, Shōgun

Jessica Gunning

“I almost tripped up! You nearly saw my Golden Globes then!” Gunning said slyly as she reached the stage after averting a mishap on the stairs. As the crowd laughed she settled in to deliver a tear-inducing speech. "There’s a video of me when I was little… I was about eight years old, and my mum and dad got me a hamster for Christmas. They brought it out in this bin bag – happy Christmas! – and I’ve got a very Yorkshire accent and I just kept saying ‘I can’t believe this is happening to me’. And I realized this morning that this has been a kind of soundtrack for my life this past year since Baby Reindeer came out. I can not believe any of this is happening to me, and so I just want to say thank you to everyone that let me come on this journey...I can’t believe this is happening to me, and I know eight-year-old me wouldn’t either.” - Best Performance by a Female Actor in a Supporting TV Role, Baby Reindeer

Fernanada Torres

"My God, I didn’t prepare anything, because I was glad already," began Torres as she took the same stage where her mother accepted an award 25 years ago. "This is such an amazing year for female performers," she noted, "...and of course I want to dedicate it to my mother! You have no idea, she was here 25 years ago. This is proof that art can endure through life, even if difficult moments...This is a film that helps us," she concluded, "think how to survive in tough times like these." - Best Performance by a Female Actor in a Motion Picture, I'm Still Here

Demi Moore

"Oh wow. I really wasn’t expecting that. I’m just in shock right now," stammered a visibly stunned Moore, and as she spoke her speech became my favorite of the night. "I’ve been doing this a long time, like over 45 years, and this is the first time I’ve ever won anything as an actor. And I’m just so humbled and so grateful."

"Thirty years ago, I had a producer tell me that I was a popcorn actress," she recalled sadly, "and, at that time, I made that mean that this [award] wasn’t something that I was allowed to have. That I could do movies that were successful, that made a lot of money, but that I couldn’t be acknowledged, and I bought in and I believed that. And that corroded me over time, to the point where I thought, a few years ago, that maybe this was it. Maybe I was complete. Maybe I would—I’d done what I was supposed to do."

Moore went on to praise The Substance script and team, and then said the following which left no dry eyes in the house:

"I’ll just leave you with one thing that I think this movie is imparting is: In those moments when we don’t think we’re smart enough or pretty enough, or skinny enough or successful enough, or basically just not enough. I had a woman say to me, ‘Just know, you will never be enough. But you can know the value of your worth if you just put down the measuring stick.’ And so today I celebrate this as a marker of my wholeness and of the love that is driving me and for the gift of doing something I love and being reminded that I do belong. Thank you so much." - Best Actress in a Motion Picture - Musical or Comedy, The Substance

I'm not crying...but I am thinking. And smiling.

Imagine if we shared these words with next gen girls at the start of every year, what a gift that would be:

It's not a competition - show up and celebrate each other.

Vote for your fellow teammate or classmate any and every day.

Your eight-year old self would be proud of your progress.

Moms can be mentors and their art endures.

You can know your worth by simply putting down the measuring stick.

Here's to a year of first-time achievements, self-worth and wise words.

Pass it on.

Looking forward,

Illana

ÊXTRAS: Here are links to three more epic speeches from last night (not first-timers) you won't want to miss: Viola Davis accepting the Cecil B. DeMille Award, Emilia Pérez winning Best Picture, and Jean Smart winning Best TV Female Actor, quipping "I never thought I'd be so happy to be called a Hack!"