Summary of "Choose Your Creative Path"

Podcast: IMO with Michelle Obama and Craig Robinson
Episode Date: September 24, 2025
Guests: Erika Alexander, Kim Coles
Theme: Embracing your authentic creative path, Black women’s friendships, navigating the entertainment industry, and living a life of impact beyond societal expectations.

Episode Overview

This episode welcomes iconic actresses and podcast co-hosts Erika Alexander and Kim Coles to discuss creativity, friendship, and self-acceptance. The conversation touches on their breakthrough roles in Living Single, how their backgrounds shaped their journeys, why representation matters, and how their friendship evolved in and beyond the show. The hosts and guests reflect on purpose, handling societal pressures, and how to know if you are "enough"—especially when time feels short.

Key Discussion Points & Insights

1. Owning Your Fate and Creative Identity

• Erika Alexander shares a pivotal moment: After years of acting, a hypnotism session helped her finally accept acting as her true calling, not just a side gig or something she fell into.
  • "I got in my car and I sobbed like a baby because I realized I had not accepted my fate...I cried for 20 minutes straight where I said, you are an actress." (Erika Alexander, 00:00, 31:53)
• Erika reflects on the internal struggle of legitimacy in creative paths, feeling that "scientist or something much more legitimate" (32:27) seemed more acceptable.

2. The Origin and Legacy of Living Single

• Both guests reminisce about the show’s impact and the recurring calls for a reboot, but instead created their rewatch podcast Reliving Single to explore both the show and their personal journeys.
  • "I was never really for that [a reboot]...But I thought about the opportunity...of being able to talk about the industry, all the things that I’ve experienced, sort of showing up as myself." (Erika Alexander, 09:34)
• On Living Single's collaborative spirit:
  • "I came from In Living Color, a highly competitive environment, but on Living Single it was collaborative." (Kim Coles, 15:32)
  • "Table read...I immediately just was drawn to Erika's way...I was immediately like, yes, that’s gonna be my friend." (Kim Coles, 13:40)

3. Friendship and Sisterhood in Hollywood

• Erika and Kim discuss sustaining friendship beyond work, citing similarities in upbringing (educator mothers and preacher fathers) and how arguments forged a sister-like bond.
• They reflect on stereotypes: "There’s a stereotype...that Black women in the business don’t get along. I have not found that." (Kim Coles, 18:14)
• Deep acknowledgment of supporting each other’s personal milestones, even serving as maid of honor at each other's weddings (18:25).

4. Navigating Representation and the Industry

• The hosts and guests analyze the shift in Hollywood that led to the segregation of shows with Black casts into specific networks and the subsequent decline in mainstream representation.
  • "We helped build [the Fox] network, literally...and yet when shows got ‘too successful’, things shifted." (Erika Alexander, 50:10, 51:41)
  • On bias in greenlighting and production: "Their opinion is going to bankrupt the industry. Because you are the future." (Erika Alexander, 57:25)
• They stress the critical need for diversity in decision-making as a business necessity, not just for representation.

5. The Challenge of Feeling "Enough" and the Weight of Expectations

• The group discusses "imposter syndrome" and constant pressure to prove oneself as Black creatives and public figures.
  • "We were all talented. Come on. But you worry about what people think." (Craig Robinson, 34:40, 37:45)
  • "We also don’t give ourselves permission to have joy. There’s the question: is it enough?" (Host, 38:23, 38:56)
• On being humble vs. claiming your space:
  • "We're always told, be humble...and yet we come from also people...that had to say who they were and tell the world they were great." (Erika Alexander, 40:03–40:27)
• The idea of setting "peaceful perimeters" rather than boundaries to claim space respectfully (Kim Coles, 40:52).

6. Reinvention and Life After the Spotlight

• Kim describes her pivot after acting jobs dwindled: she embraced being a speaker and educator, channeling her comedic gift into motivating and transforming lives.
  • "I immersed myself into what it means to become an impactful speaker...to help people transform their thinking, our mindset, our soul." (Kim Coles, 64:16)
• Erika co-founded Color Farm Media, producing documentary work on John Lewis and reparations, embracing history-telling as activism.
  • "I sweep [John Lewis’s] floors, I don’t care what he needs me to do..." (Erika Alexander, 65:38)

7. Advice to Listeners: Handling Time, Meaning, and Self-Validation

• Listener Amanda from Tucson asks about feeling the pressure of time and wondering "How do you know you’re doing enough?"
  • Erika: "As a character in my own story, I keep feeling that I am coming of age all the time. ... If you’re thinking that way, you must be making an impact." (Erika Alexander, 75:17, 75:34)
  • Kim: "There’s a nobility and a courage in even asking that. Everything you want wants you back." (Kim Coles, 77:14)
• On impact:
  • "Be the pebble in the pond...a little can be a lot." (Craig Robinson, 78:49)
  • Michelle Obama: "Some of the moments I remember most as First Lady...was usually a conversation that I had in a photo line with a kid that was shy...if I could do that every day and nobody’s looking..." (Host, 79:46)

Notable Quotes & Memorable Moments

• Accepting your path:
  "I realize now that fate serves you up to destiny and you have to accept that. But I had not accepted it, and I needed to." (Erika Alexander, 32:27)
• On confidence and pride:
  "We come from people from Muhammad Ali on that had to say who they were and tell the world that they were great...you gotta choose one—confidence." (Erika Alexander, 40:03–40:27)
• Challenging stereotypes:
  "I love telling the world that she was maid of honor at one of my weddings. And neither one of us are married to either of those men—but the love remains." (Kim Coles & Erika Alexander, 18:25)
• On industry bias:
  "People end up going, hey, you’re lucky…but the downward pressure of wages is real everywhere. And so if you wanna talk about it...just cause I’m famous don’t make it less true." (Erika Alexander, 55:56)
• Impact beyond visibility:
  "People think they want fame...what people really want is to be significant and to be meaningful. Sometimes it’s your kids that are watching." (Kim Coles, 77:14–77:50)
• Advice on finding meaning:
  "You are right where you need to be if you’re there, because that means if you’re thinking that way, you must be making an impact." (Erika Alexander, 75:34)
  "Be the pebble in the pond." (Craig Robinson, 78:49)

Timestamps for Important Segments

• Erika’s hypnotist breakthrough & creative acceptance: 00:00, 31:53
• Why Erika hesitated on a Living Single rewatch podcast: 09:34
• How Kim and Erika’s friendship started and grew: 13:40–16:34
• Representation, networks, and industry segregation: 49:15–53:48
• Discussing imposter syndrome and self-worth: 34:40–40:27
• Listener Amanda’s question (time, impact, enough-ness): 74:39–79:45
• Final insights on legacy and what they’re currently watching/reading: 81:09–82:53

Engaging Moments & Tone

• The episode is candid, warm, and full of laughter, especially when guests and hosts swap childhood stories and rib each other.
• Michelle Obama and Craig Robinson bring familial camaraderie, setting an open, affirming tone.
• Both guests give honest, vulnerable accounts of professional insecurity, pride, and continuing to push for impact.

Conclusion

This episode is a profound, relatable, and at times joyful exploration of creativity, representation, resilience, and self-acceptance. The conversation demystifies the journey of creative professionals, particularly Black women in entertainment, and affirms the value of authentic friendship, vulnerability, and making peace with one’s trajectory—no matter how unconventional. The advice to listeners: Trust the ripples you make, stay true to your calling, and remember—sometimes small impacts are the mightiest.