With New Podcast, Lupita Nyong'o Finds “Sense of Purpose” in Amplifying African Stories

Nyong’o’s determination drove her to seek out partners who shared her vision. “I stubbornly believed there was an audience just as hungry for these stories as I was,” she explains. “It takes stubborn people to challenge expectations.”

Celebrated for her roles in Africa-centered films like Queen of Katwe, Black Panther, and 12 Years a Slave, Nyong'o feels a deep compulsion to tell African stories. “My sense of purpose is to do that. I always had an inkling that being African was enough, but I didn't necessarily always get the reflections of that. And so that is a wrong that I want to [put right] in where I put my energy. So I think that it's about the intention meeting the artistry. I am, first and foremost, an artist, and my African identity is my inspiration.”

In this interview, edited for length and clarity, Nyong’o discusses navigating identity and accents in Hollywood, her mission to tell untold African stories and the importance of recognizing her value as an African.

OkayAfrica: What was your primary goal in bringing this project to life?

Lupita Nyong’o: What shows like This American Life did for me was they made me feel more at home in a country that was very alien to me because of how intimate the stories were. And I like getting to know Americans in that intimate way. And I wanted to share that same experience but from an African perspective. I wanted to have a place for Africans to gather that was just about us getting to know each other better.

So Africans are your target audience for “Mind Your Own.”

1000 percent! This is for Africans everywhere. The primary audience is Africans on the continent and around the world. The reason why it was important for me to speak to Africans first is because when I was growing up, I took in so much popular culture that wasn't meant for me. American music. British soaps. Mexican soaps… I was exposed to the whole world. They weren't necessarily speaking to me or for me, but I was able to relate. And so I figured, ‘Why can't it be the same the other way around? Where is the moment where it's my experience as an African that is taking the foreground and other people get to relate to it?’ I didn't want to be explaining Africans to other people. I wanted to be talking to [and with] Africans and having other people approach our narrative with a sense of familiarity and with that feeling of relatability.

Like with your accent, which you said has evolved over time, did you feel you had to make other adjustments to fit into an entertainment industry with a largely American audience?

I would say that for me, going to drama school was my way of equipping myself with the tools to just be the best actor that I could be. Even if it was tough, I don't regret working on my American accent for three years because I gained a lot of confidence in myself that I can take into every audition room that I'm in. I didn't know how to do accents before, and [this training] allowed me to do a Ugandan accent [in Queen of Katwe]. It's what allowed me to do a Xhosa/South African accent in Black Panther. So [this training has] lent itself to my ability to express myself in different African contexts.

I don't think that I have to sound American to be valued. That was the main lesson for me coming back to my accent, or coming back to whatever version of this accent it is. The value is not in the purity of my Kenyan accent, nor is it in the purity of an American accent. My value is not in how I sound. It's in who I am, and that is where I reside right now.

Do you think Hollywood has an appetite for African stories and is taking meaningful steps to tell them?

I'm not sitting back studying what the industry is doing. I'm in the arena actually trying to get the things done. So, for example, this podcast took me five years because it had starts and stops. When I first went out with the idea, nobody was interested in it. But it's partly because my first idea didn't have me in it. I wanted to tell other people's stories, and then I had to come to the realization that the way to get this done is to be a little bit more front-footed with it, and lead with my own narrative as the portal to other people's narratives.

But the market wasn't interested in it because the market did not have an appetite to speak to an African audience. I just stubbornly believed that there was an audience of people who were as hungry for these kinds of stories as I am. It's only day one, so I have no idea how the podcast will do. But what I do have is faith in my lived experience, and I think that it takes stubborn people to change what the expectation is.

As much as I live in America, and I understand that the entertainment economy is very much led by America, I don't think that that is the only point of value. I think it's dangerous for us to rely on only that validation. We have always been wealthy, but it's been in other people's best interest that we don't know it or acknowledge it. I'm excited that more and more of our experiences are being shared, but let it be shared on our terms!

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