Oscar-winning actress Lupita Nyong’o recently opened up on her new podcast, Mind Your Own, about how she deliberately softened her Kenyan accent early in her career to navigate Hollywood. Now, she’s embracing her roots once again.
Produced by KQED’s Snap Studios, with ad sales and distribution managed by Lemonada Media, the podcast debuted on Thursday. It’s a 10-part series that delves into the diverse experiences of the African diaspora, featuring personal stories from around the world. The show aims to explore the complex identities of Black and African communities and what it truly means to find a sense of belonging.
Nyong’o’s journey is at the heart of the series. In the first episode, she reflects on her early life in Kenya, her experiences in Mexico, and her eventual move to the U.S. As a young actor vying for roles in Hollywood, she revealed that she felt the need to suppress her Kenyan accent to fit in and succeed in the industry.
“In order to create this podcast, I had to get very comfortable with my voice. … It has not been easy,” Nyong’o said. “I’ve long had a complicated relationship with the way I speak. … While I was in undergrad, I held on to my Kenyan accent for dear life. … When I showed up at the Yale School of Drama, I made this pact with myself that I would learn how to sound American in a way that would guarantee me a career in acting because obviously I didn’t know very many people in movies and television with Kenyan accents. There was just no market for that.”
“[I remember] my very first meeting with a casting director and her asking me about where I was from, and I said, ‘Kenya,’ and she said, ‘Oh my goodness, you don’t have an accent.’ And I was at once so elated and also so crushed — I had ridden myself of myself, kind of,”
“At the end of the day, I never wanted to lose my authenticity. [Before I started press for 12 Years a Slave], I called my reps, and we had a conference call, and I said, ‘I’ve decided that from tomorrow I am going to return to my original accent. I want to send a message that being an African is enough.’ They had never heard me speak in a Kenyan accent,” she said.
“I spoke to my mom, and she said, ‘Your accent is representative of your life experience.’ That gave me solace, that an accent comes to being from your life and accent — just like skin and hair — it can change, and it’s OK. I guess this accent is called Lupita; I don’t know who could claim it but me,” she said.
Lupita announced her podcast earlier this month
I have some GREAT NEWS to share ????: I made a podcast called MIND YOUR OWN, debuting globally on September 19th! Link in bio to subscribe today!
MIND YOUR OWN features stories from the African perspective: Forget about the hot button, newsworthy stories that you are used to hearing from the Continent! This show is about the personal, intimate, individual and quirky stories that give light to who we are as Africans today!! ????
I created MIND YOUR OWN because I was homesick and I wanted to hear stories from other Africans navigating more than one world that they consider home like me. It’s also for anybody who has ever felt alien in one way or another; for everyone considering what it really means to belong. ????
So, COME AND MIND YOUR OWN WITH US! Starting TODAY, you can subscribe wherever you get your podcasts (link in bio!) and you will receive episodes as soon as they drop!
The first two episodes of Mind Your Own are available for streaming, with new episodes dropping on Thursdays.
