( CNN ) -- Lupita Nyong ' o is one of Glamour magazine 's Women of the Year . That 's no surprise to most people : The actress won an Oscar for `` 12 Years a Slave '' this year and has been popping up on `` best dressed '' and `` most beautiful '' lists ever since . Lupita : A Cinderella for everybody . Nevertheless , she tells the magazine that the attention she 's received has been overwhelming . `` Right now I 'm still adjusting . I guess I feel catapulted into a different place ; I have a little whiplash , '' she said . `` I did have a dream to be an actress , but I did n't think about being famous . And I have n't yet figured out how to be a celebrity ; that 's something I 'm learning , and I wish there were a course on how to handle it . '' She could n't even imagine what winning the Oscar would be like , she observed . `` I do n't think I will ever be able to really articulate how bizarre it was to hear my name at the Academy Awards . I 'd watched in my pajamas the year before ! '' she said . `` I felt numb -- dazed and confused . I remember feeling light -- weightless . More like limbo than cloud nine . '' The Oscar has helped launch her career into the stratosphere . Nyong ' o has big things ahead , including next year 's `` Star Wars '' movie . But the actress , who was born in Mexico of Kenyan parents , mentions that it was n't always so . For her , Oprah Winfrey was n't just a role model but a `` reference point , '' and seeing Winfrey and Whoopi Goldberg in `` The Color Purple '' was key to her belief that she could become successful . She hopes she can have the same effect on people who see her . `` I 've heard people talk about images in popular culture changing , and that makes me feel great , because it means that the little girl I was , once upon a time , has an image to instill in her that she is beautiful , that she is worthy , '' she said . `` Until I saw people who looked like me , doing the things I wanted to , I was n't so sure it was a possibility . '' The December issue of Glamour hits newsstands November 11 .
Oscar o is named nine of Lupita Nyong ' 's Women of November 11 . The actress won an Glamour for `` 12 Years a Slave '' She 's still getting used to celebrity . She wants to be a role model for women .