Chapter 1: What is the main topic discussed in this episode?
You're listening to TED Talks Daily, where we bring you new ideas to spark your curiosity every day. I'm your host, Elise Hu. Multi-hyphenate entertainer Kiki Palmer has spent more than 20 years mastering the art of performing on stage and off. But somewhere along the way, she realized that the very skills that carried her family out of poverty were also keeping her trapped.
Today, I'm going to share my story with you, not as a survivor soliloquy, but to expose a pattern. Because survival can be so effective, you don't realize when it's no longer serving you.
In this talk, Kiki introduces us to the side of herself that the public never got to see. She tells the story of her childhood in Robbins, Illinois, where performing was their ticket to a better life, to a career built on never stopping, never resting, and never letting herself be still.
Once we was out, I forgot to let myself free. Yet I'm here today,
Chapter 2: What experiences shaped Keke Palmer's perspective on survival?
grateful to say, my parents showed me how to survive. I showed them how to dream. And my son is showing me how to live.
Her talk is coming up right after a short break. And stick around after. We caught up with TED curator Chi Perlman to share a few thoughts on what it was like working with Kiki behind the scenes.
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And now, our TED Talk of the day.
What's up, everybody? I'm Kiki Palmer. You might know me from the Spelling Bee movie, Akeelah and the Bee, my Nickelodeon TV show, True Jackson VP, Jordan Peele's Nope, Maybe my viral meme where I was sorry to that man. Or more recently, my new TV show, The Burbs, streaming now on Peacock. I've been working in front of the camera for over 20 years now.
But today, I'm going to share my story with you. not as a survivor soliloquy, but to expose a pattern. Because survival can be so effective, you don't realize when it's no longer serving you. I grew up in Robbins, Illinois. And Robbins, by definition, is a food desert. The liquor store is often where I picked up my lunches before school. Flamin' hot Cheetos and a pop.
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Chapter 3: How did Keke Palmer's upbringing influence her career choices?
A meal the teachers over at my Catholic school often criticized. Even still, my family had love. We was cash poor, but rich in culture and pride. My mother was a substitute teacher for disabled children. She sang for churches and did backup singing for extra cash. My father worked in the factory at a polyurethane company. He had Carhartt before it was fashionable, OK?
But they fell in love doing speech interp and theater, things circumstance slowly made no space for. The love was there, the joy was there. But even with both of my parents working multiple jobs, it wasn't enough. When I was eight, we moved somewhere a little nicer and qualified for Section 8, which is a subsidized housing program.
I remember being told not to mention my father when the assessor came by because it would reduce the support we needed. I didn't understand the system, but I understood the stakes. Stability was fragile, survival was urgent, and in that urgency, I learned that protecting the whole sometimes meant shrinking parts of ourselves.
Growing up in a place where access is limited, hamming it up became my pastime, a dream passed down. Then suddenly, performing was a gift that granted my family more access. See, only a child could fit through the gatekeeper's gates, especially a child like me that was so eager to please. So when I started auditioning and booking, it became clear I was the one who could do it.
I could do something I enjoyed and lift some weight off my parents. So we did it. We moved to LA for my career. We drove four days and three nights from Illinois to California. My dad withdrew his pension, the church and extended family gave us what they could, and we was off. And right away, it seemed to be the right decision.
In the first year, I starred in a movie alongside William H. Macy and got a SAG nomination. Then, go ahead, clap. Then I got a self-titled Disney Channel pilot, and I starred in my own movie. Suddenly, we had access to a life that didn't require constant vigilance. Each opportunity gave way to a world we never knew was possible.
We no longer shared rooms, we had a car that worked, my parents weren't stressed about bills or their ability to get the best education for me and my three siblings. It got to the point where my career became the center of our orbit. And not because we chased success, but because it bought us freedom. That's when performing stopped being something I did for fun and something we relied on.
Messing that up wouldn't have just cost me. It would have put our freedom at risk. And we already knew what it was like to live without it. So I adapted. Not all at once, but over the years. By the time I landed my own TV show, I was undoubtedly the breadwinner, and my job was just that. There was no time for outside activities, no time for vacation, no time for pause.
And as the pressure got greater, stage became my home. Performing was the safest way for me to be free. In my roles, I could embody joy, even briefly. I could be True Jackson VP, working at a grown-up job, never really knew I could work this hard. At the time, it was just a theme song I wrote. I didn't know how I was transmuting. In my roles, I could be sad.
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