Overcoming imposter syndrome at CNN

When I first shared this post on Instagram and Linkedin, I didn’t expect that my experience with imposter syndrome would resonate with so many people. To my utmost shock, it went viral on LinkedIn, amassing more than 6k profile views and 500+ comments. I’m bringing it here so it lives on my website.

Here goes: 

I’ve been looking at where I was mentally when I started my job at CNN in 2019, and I’m thankful for how much I have grown.

Funny story, the journey began on what seemed like a random evening. I was scrolling on Instagram when I came across a job post on Everythingnaart‘s TribeCalledENA page. 

It didn’t name the company, but that was the least of my worries because I was already consumed with a mental debate wondering whether I fit the bill or not. If you guessed that I decided against applying, you are right.

However, at the time, I had just come across the notion that most women can be 80% qualified for a job but pass it up because they don’t meet 20% of the requirements.

I badly wanted to unlearn that, so I went back to the post. I prepped my CV, did some research, forced myself to be honest about what drives me, what I am “bringing to the table,” and poured it all out in a cover letter.

When I got the first email acknowledging my application and saw that it was from CNN, I thought it was spam. 😂

When I got the job, I fought the wildest imposter syndrome ever. I was in over my head trying to be perfect, second-guessing everything, setting a very high bar, and falling terribly short of it.

I couldn’t even tell a lot of people about my work because I was so sure they would judge it as harshly or worse than I did.

I am glad I had supportive people around me, or I would have self-sabotaged, and for what? One of the best advice I got from my boss was to not shrink or let perfection be the enemy of good. That stayed with me.
I am more comfortable and confident in my “work skin” now, like a solid 79.89%! 😂. I’m okay with knowing I may not get everything right the first time or the fifth time, but I will never not show up and give it my all until I get it right.

I am putting this out here as a public self-reminder and praying for the best as I figure out the next step of my career.