Michelle Obama Explains Why Black People Shouldn’t Have Imposter Syndrome

You can always count on Michelle Obama to drop some nugget of wisdom to help us better ourselves. That’s exactly what she did recently while in England for SXSW London, and honestly, it’s a message we all need to hear.

The former First Lady went across the pond for the event as one of the guest speakers in a live taping of her popular podcast, “IMO with Michelle Obama and Craig Robinson.” During their conversation, she touched on how being “at every powerful table there is” over the years made her aware of how people doubt themselves and view themselves as undeserving and outsiders in the space. However, she added that she’s noticed those perceptions only seem to plague people of color and women—and not white men.

“There’s so many people like me, like you: women, minorities, folks who aren’t supposed to be at these tables… they are sitting around thinking that they’re impostors,” she said per The Guardian.

Then, in a truly mic-drop moment, she added: “I’ve never heard a white man talk about impostor syndrome. I haven’t met one.”

Hopefully, her message reached the people who need to hear it most. There have been countless conversations online about how Black people tend to disqualify themselves for opportunities if they don’t match 100 percent of the criteria, or let doubt creep in and question whether it’s something they deserve. That’s not even taking into account the systemic biases and hurdles that already exist for people of color.

Meanwhile, studies show that most white men have a higher sense of self-efficacy in the workplace, regardless of whether they’re actually doing a good job or if they’re even qualified for it in the first place. (This is probably why the phrase “have the confidence of a mediocre white man” has gone viral over the last few years.)

But according to the former First Lady, Black folks ought to take a page from the white man’s book and leave imposter syndrome at the door.

Obama continued by saying that moving forward, part of her goal in life is to “demystify” the perceptions about people in those elite spaces.

Of course, this isn’t the first time the “Becoming” author has talked about combating imposter syndrome. In 2023, during a talk for the Obama Foundation, she explained that the mental conundrum was all in people’s heads, describing it as a false belief system.

“Much of it is what you practice telling yourself. I’m just here to tell you, it is not true. You wouldn’t be here, you wouldn’t be doing what you’re doing if you didn’t belong here,” she explained. “I’m just telling you, there are a lot of people who don’t belong there. And at every table, I thought it was me. After a little bit, I learned ‘nope, it’s him.’”