Dr. Wendy Osefo
speaker
82 appearances
1 recordings
1 series
first heard Jun 2025
last heard Jun 2025
Dr. Wendy Osefo’s voice in public audio — every appearance, attributed to the second.
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Appearances
Hey there or love it. People are going to say something. And that's why when I was thinking about going into the show, I said in my life, whether it's being a professor or being a commentator, I lead with authenticity. I'm always true to who I am. Like I never go in there. Like I know people, even in the political realm, they don't believe what they're saying.
They're saying it because they know it will get attention or because, you know, they're being a voice or mouthpiece for someone. Everything I say, I believe. And even in the classroom, everything I say, I believe. So I say that to say with shooting the show, I came into it with the same mindset.
So if you don't like what you see on the TV, I'm okay with that because it'll be different if I was faking or I was pretending to be somebody and I'll say to myself, oh man, I wish I was just my authentic self. Maybe they were like that. No, you get what you get. And so I'd rather be hated for who I am than love for who I'm not. So this is who I am. If you don't like it, move along.
I did think of the negative connotations that naturally come with reality shows and what that can imply. But the truth of the matter is you have to be authentic to yourself. Those shows cannot define you. You actually have the ability to define those shows.
And I think it's really interesting because a lot of people have said to me, I think that just having you on the show, in a sense, is elevating the franchise, right? Who I am and what I am is something that can never be taken away from me.
Whether you see a camera on me as I'm hanging out with my girlfriends and, you know, we're having a few drinks and you hear me say something witty or smart, that doesn't negate the fact that I'm constantly interacting in these streets marching for Black lives. It doesn't change the fact that I'm speaking truth to power when it comes to politics.
It doesn't change the fact that I'm the first Black woman to receive my PhD in my department. Those things can never be taken away from me. It's sort of the argument as women that we face that is often said, you're beautiful, but you should dress differently so people can take you seriously. If the way you dress can take away from your brains, then that doesn't make any sense.
So that's what I look at it as. I could be completely wrong, but who I am and what I've done can never be stripped away because of social choices I make with my girlfriends. No. And I don't do anything crazy. I'm really not, you know, there's some crazy things, but I don't do anything crazy. So you just get to see my fun side.
I think I also struggle with some of the insecurities that a lot of us face. Right. Even, you know, you listed also my degrees at every stage of me receiving one of my degrees. I suffer from imposter syndrome, thinking everyone around me is so much smarter than me. I'm not supposed to be here. So I have a sense of confidence that I carry with me.
But there are times and there are days where I just walk around and say, you know, am I biting off more than I can chew? So I rely heavily on my family to give me strength and to say, you got this. But most of the days I do walk around with my head held high saying, you know what? You're a bad bitch. You deserve to be here. Good for you.
You know, my background is Nigerian. I come from a Nigerian household. And the reason I preface this statement with that is because growing up in a Nigerian household, you're always being raised with different like parables, as I like to call it. Right. And so one of the parables that my dad always used to say is, you know, in life, we have two stages. You
There's a stage where you will become a mentor. There's a stage where you'll become a mentee. And you have to know where you are in life and what stage you currently are at. And the reason I say that is because a lot of times in my life, I would question myself and question, you know, should I be here? I would reassure myself and say, yes, you're supposed to be here.
You're just not at the stage where you are the mentor yet. You're still learning. You know, this is your learning phase. And so I think that instead of us to say, we're not supposed to be here, let's walk away. We have to look at it differently and say, We're not necessarily experts yet, but we are still supposed to be here. This stage in our life is a learning stage.
And in this learning stage, I will gather all the information I can get. And hopefully one day I will be an expert. And then my role will change from a mentee to a mentor.
So I've been able to reframe my thinking and just look at life differently and say, whenever I'm insecure about my positioning, it's not that I'm not supposed to be here, but rather I still have a lot to learn in this space and to take up space and learn that thing.
Amazing.
That's super cool.
You know, I think it's always interesting, you know, because even outside of those hats, I'm also a professor, right? And I have students who come from various political backgrounds and they have different political ideologies.
And I've done a very good job of, you know, situating myself in the middle and saying, I have my own political views, but I think what's most important here is for all of us to be civically engaged. And that's, what's the most important to me, whether you are on the left side of the aisle or the right side of the aisle, that is your complete, you know, right as a citizen. But again,
The worst thing to do is not to have engagement. And that's where I am always situated in the middle. And I say to people, these are my personal views. These are my personal political views. And it's rooted in my background, my upbringing and things like that and just things I've read. But it doesn't mean that we should alienate each other.
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