Keke Palmer
Appearances
IMO with Michelle Obama and Craig Robinson
Disappointment Is the Key to Career Success with Keke Palmer
So I remember when I did A Kill and the Bee, everybody kept saying, this movie is going to be a hit. This movie is going to bust it out. You're going to be a star. And it's such an elusive thing because what's a star?
IMO with Michelle Obama and Craig Robinson
Disappointment Is the Key to Career Success with Keke Palmer
I think I maybe have had one experience like that, and it's because you attach all these expectations to it. You know what I mean? It's one thing to say, I want to achieve this for me. And then there's another thing to say, I want to achieve something because I'm expecting all of this to come with it.
IMO with Michelle Obama and Craig Robinson
Disappointment Is the Key to Career Success with Keke Palmer
We can think about, well, once I get da-da-da, I'm going to have this, I'm going to have that, I'm going to have that. And then you kind of continue to push the goalposts for yourself. So I remember when I did Akeel and the Bee, everybody kept saying, this movie is going to be a hit. This movie is going to bust it out. You're going to be a star.
IMO with Michelle Obama and Craig Robinson
Disappointment Is the Key to Career Success with Keke Palmer
And it's such an elusive thing because what's a star?
IMO with Michelle Obama and Craig Robinson
Disappointment Is the Key to Career Success with Keke Palmer
And I'm like, wow, this is huge.
IMO with Michelle Obama and Craig Robinson
Disappointment Is the Key to Career Success with Keke Palmer
I guess I'll be Michael Jackson now. You know, it was like huge.
IMO with Michelle Obama and Craig Robinson
Disappointment Is the Key to Career Success with Keke Palmer
And then the movie came in and did so terrible in the box office. Mm-hmm.
IMO with Michelle Obama and Craig Robinson
Disappointment Is the Key to Career Success with Keke Palmer
And then the funny thing about it is, like, over time, it grew to be my most popular film. And the thing that people most know me for, but I use that as an example in this, is because our life is made up of many moments. It's not made, like, our legacy is not just that one thing we did. It's the many, you know, it's the many things that we did.
IMO with Michelle Obama and Craig Robinson
Disappointment Is the Key to Career Success with Keke Palmer
And so, like, A Killing to Be was always there for people to come to and remember my work. And it grew over time amongst all the things I did.
IMO with Michelle Obama and Craig Robinson
Disappointment Is the Key to Career Success with Keke Palmer
But I remember feeling in that moment being like, everybody lied to me. You know what I mean? I felt like when my mom told me I was going to be a big girl at five, I still didn't get big. I was like, now, wait a minute. I'm still shorter than y'all.
IMO with Michelle Obama and Craig Robinson
Disappointment Is the Key to Career Success with Keke Palmer
And that's how I felt with the Akilah thing. But what I learned and what I never did to myself after that was to expect an outcome. Yeah. To be proud of the work, to be happy that I got the job or the thing that I wanted to get or did the, but not to make it mean that it is only that if I receive a certain achievement. No, it's that to me. And that has to be enough.
IMO with Michelle Obama and Craig Robinson
Disappointment Is the Key to Career Success with Keke Palmer
So that's the one thing I thought about when that happened.
IMO with Michelle Obama and Craig Robinson
Disappointment Is the Key to Career Success with Keke Palmer
It's because I think that what happens to us sometimes is we focus on the micro goal that is actually servicing the macro goal. Now, I don't know what that is for Noelle, and sometimes we don't know, which is why the chapters are important. But let's say, for instance, she just likes to tell stories through food. That's the real thing. Go. Yeah. To tell stories through food.
IMO with Michelle Obama and Craig Robinson
Disappointment Is the Key to Career Success with Keke Palmer
I can do that through helping people tell their stories through food. I can do that through food styling. And so I think what we often have to do is pull back and say, you know, I talk about this, like, it's not really just that I like to perform.
IMO with Michelle Obama and Craig Robinson
Disappointment Is the Key to Career Success with Keke Palmer
It's that I like to make people believe in something. I like to make them feel inspired, excited, whether that's through a killing the bee, having a conversation here with y'all or you and your family getting together, watching Password. The macro goal, the real goal that I'm servicing that never has an ending is to just make people believe and feel good and inspired.
IMO with Michelle Obama and Craig Robinson
Disappointment Is the Key to Career Success with Keke Palmer
So I think that's another thing that I hear with Noelle is like, that's the micro goal was to do this thing. The book. The book. The micro goal was to do the book, but the macro goal, you got to really identify that to yourself. And that helps you to know that I'm going in the right direction. You feel that you're being of service to that macro goal.
IMO with Michelle Obama and Craig Robinson
Disappointment Is the Key to Career Success with Keke Palmer
Even when these micro goals go in the random directions that you didn't expect, because you know you're still servicing that real thing.
IMO with Michelle Obama and Craig Robinson
Disappointment Is the Key to Career Success with Keke Palmer
And I'm like, wow, this is huge.
IMO with Michelle Obama and Craig Robinson
Disappointment Is the Key to Career Success with Keke Palmer
Yeah. And it is really... I don't want to just... I mean, I know we're hearing it. I'm not being biased, but you really... do that. And it means so much to us. Especially when you talk about, you know, family and unity. I think that's something that our generation is really struggling with right now. Not trying to speak for everybody, but we just don't know how to be a we.
IMO with Michelle Obama and Craig Robinson
Disappointment Is the Key to Career Success with Keke Palmer
We don't always understand how to get from challenges to peace. It's like, everything is like, well, challenges, aim, we gone. And it's like, I'm sure sometimes that's important to do. But when you speak about your family, how you've gotten to where you are, and you always talk about there were challenges. But what you get on the other side of getting through that is what you're looking for.
IMO with Michelle Obama and Craig Robinson
Disappointment Is the Key to Career Success with Keke Palmer
I guess I'll be Michael Jackson now. You know, it was like huge.
IMO with Michelle Obama and Craig Robinson
Disappointment Is the Key to Career Success with Keke Palmer
Thank you. Thank you. Thank you.
IMO with Michelle Obama and Craig Robinson
Disappointment Is the Key to Career Success with Keke Palmer
And then the movie came in and did so terrible in the box office. Mm-hmm.
IMO with Michelle Obama and Craig Robinson
Disappointment Is the Key to Career Success with Keke Palmer
Thank you.
IMO with Michelle Obama and Craig Robinson
Disappointment Is the Key to Career Success with Keke Palmer
Thank you.
IMO with Michelle Obama and Craig Robinson
Disappointment Is the Key to Career Success with Keke Palmer
And then the funny thing about it is, like, over time, it grew to be my most popular film. And the thing that people most know me for, but I use that as an example in this, is because our life is made up of many moments. It's not made, like, our legacy is not just that one thing we did. It's the many, you know, it's the many things that we did.
IMO with Michelle Obama and Craig Robinson
Disappointment Is the Key to Career Success with Keke Palmer
And so, like, A Killing to Be was always there for people to come to and remember my work. And it grew over time amongst all the things I did.
IMO with Michelle Obama and Craig Robinson
Disappointment Is the Key to Career Success with Keke Palmer
You too, you guys. Oh, my gosh. And I just live for the password play.
IMO with Michelle Obama and Craig Robinson
Disappointment Is the Key to Career Success with Keke Palmer
I should wear my glasses.
IMO with Michelle Obama and Craig Robinson
Disappointment Is the Key to Career Success with Keke Palmer
But I remember feeling in that moment being like, everybody lied to me. You know what I mean? I felt like when my mom told me I was going to be a big girl at five, I still didn't get big. I was like, now, wait a minute. I'm still shorter than y'all.
IMO with Michelle Obama and Craig Robinson
Disappointment Is the Key to Career Success with Keke Palmer
That is my praise. I love doing that show. And I just love that families can get together and have fun with it.
IMO with Michelle Obama and Craig Robinson
Disappointment Is the Key to Career Success with Keke Palmer
That's the thing. It's like it's an opportunity for everybody to play, even the babies.
IMO with Michelle Obama and Craig Robinson
Disappointment Is the Key to Career Success with Keke Palmer
Okay. Because Dateline will get you into it.
IMO with Michelle Obama and Craig Robinson
Disappointment Is the Key to Career Success with Keke Palmer
That's like the perfect balance. You know, you can laugh and then you're like, no, that man wasn't no good. I love that vibe.
IMO with Michelle Obama and Craig Robinson
Disappointment Is the Key to Career Success with Keke Palmer
I think it's so much of what, when you guys were talking about dreams, knowing your dream as a kid and then how people can help kids nurture them. Is that when I told my parents I wanted to entertain, you know, we started going on auditions and stuff. There was never a ceiling. They always encouraged and said there was more that I could do. There was never a feeling that I had.
IMO with Michelle Obama and Craig Robinson
Disappointment Is the Key to Career Success with Keke Palmer
Well, because I started with acting, that's all I had to stick with. You know, if I wanted to try singing and focus on that, I could. If I wanted to try hosting, if I wanted to do less film and TV and maybe do more theater, you know, it was all or even community stuff. I never felt like I had to just abandon any one thing to follow my dreams.
IMO with Michelle Obama and Craig Robinson
Disappointment Is the Key to Career Success with Keke Palmer
It all was rooted in being of service to my community in the ways that felt most natural to me. And so I really loved hearing you guys talk about that because I think that is why I'm able to do all the things that I do. I think a lot of people have multiple personalities. Most people, everybody has multiple gifts and things they want to offer.
IMO with Michelle Obama and Craig Robinson
Disappointment Is the Key to Career Success with Keke Palmer
But like y'all was saying, sometimes people make them believe that it's that whole jack of all trades, master of none. Yeah, yeah. But really, it's jack of all trades, master of none is often better than a master of one. One, yeah. And so I think my mom, my dad, my family saying, Okay, we're with you. Let's do it. Let's give this a shot. It's what made me be able to do it.
IMO with Michelle Obama and Craig Robinson
Disappointment Is the Key to Career Success with Keke Palmer
I think in the beginning, I was kind of like, as a teenager in my early 20s, it was kind of like, did I like my parents? Yeah, really. And then I was like, girl, everybody go. I remember my dad had this talk with me where he was like, okay, so I didn't do a lot of things right. I'm sorry that you didn't like this. I'm sorry that you didn't like that. But now you're a grown woman. Mm-hmm.
IMO with Michelle Obama and Craig Robinson
Disappointment Is the Key to Career Success with Keke Palmer
So now what are you going to do with that? Are you going to be mad at me forever? Yeah. Or are you going to move forward and take matters into your own hands? See, now that's Chicago right there.
IMO with Michelle Obama and Craig Robinson
Disappointment Is the Key to Career Success with Keke Palmer
That is Chicago to the man. He was like, I mean, everybody's parents did something. He was kind of like, okay, girl.
IMO with Michelle Obama and Craig Robinson
Disappointment Is the Key to Career Success with Keke Palmer
And I just always wonder how it's like that. You know, obviously you don't want to be biased because we're all from the Midwest, but I do think there's something that's so like, look, hardworking, put yourself up by the bootstraps, hug on your family, you know, be good to yourself and keep moving forward because life isn't going to stop. So what are you going to do with that?
IMO with Michelle Obama and Craig Robinson
Disappointment Is the Key to Career Success with Keke Palmer
And I think that's what I learned the most from my parents after I got out of my... I was kind of like, it all slowly started to come to me. All the sacrifices they made on all accounts, not just sacrifices that we think about that we like. Like, oh, you know, I can't go out tonight. I can't go. No, sacrifices like I have to abandon my comfortability with anxiety.
IMO with Michelle Obama and Craig Robinson
Disappointment Is the Key to Career Success with Keke Palmer
I have to abandon my comfortability with not chasing my dreams and stepping out into the unknown. My parents abandoned me. those things. They became heroes. They became courageous and brave in ways that I don't even think they knew that they could be just so their children could see that they had options and that their dreams were worth believing in.
IMO with Michelle Obama and Craig Robinson
Disappointment Is the Key to Career Success with Keke Palmer
And I think that is like what I want to be able to do the most with my son is teach him how to be an authoritative figure, but also help to nurture his sense of leadership without, you know, tampering him down, you know, like be a leader, but be the right kind of leader, you know?