Yara Shahidi Opens Up About Finding Her Confidence

The actress shares how she works to overcome self-doubts.

Yara Shahidi always appears to have the “confidence” thing all figured out. The “Black-ish” actress, who is now gearing up for her own spinoff series, “Grown-ish,” is known for being publicly outspoken about the causes and issues she cares about — which certainly takes a lot of guts. But the star admitted in a new interview that she too, just like everyone else, goes through stages of self-doubt.

“I constantly go through it. I’m not saying, ‘Oh, my confidence is bad,’ but it definitely goes through phases of being extra conf or being unsure: ‘Why am I here? Do I fit in?'” Yara told CBS News. “But we all go through it, especially in new environments. It’s a constant learning and relearning process, how to feel comfortable that not only am I supposed to be here, but I’m wanted in this space.”

The thing is, Yara doesn’t let fear of uncertainties get to her. In fact, to make the point that anyone can rise from their self-doubts, the actress really wanted her TV character Zoey to go through similar self-identity struggles viewers could relate to.

“I think it’s really important to show that Zoey’s unsure of herself. There’s also moments she’s dealing with society’s messages of what she thinks she should do, what people tell her she should do and how she should be,” she shared. “When you watch her go through that, we’re all hoping to handle that in nuanced ways, but to see her struggle with indecision and see her results, good, bad or indifferent, she made a choice and this is what happens what she makes decisions for herself.”

“I think it’s really important because so many times we give messages that we’re supposed to be sure of ourselves and it can be even more stigmatizing,” Yara added.

Right now, the actress is in her own transitional time: she’s starting a new show, going off to college (at Harvard!) and is continuing to be a voice of change within her generation. If that all isn’t inspiring, we don’t know what is!

Written by Kristine Hope Kowalski