Elaine Welteroth on How to Overcome Imposter Syndrome

Elaine Welteroth is an award-winning journalist, New York Times–bestselling author, and television host.

Elaine began her career at Ebony and Glamour before making history at Teen Vogue as the publication's first Black Editor in Chief. After leaving women’s magazines, Elaine went on to other highly visible positions in television, including serving as a judge on Project Runway.

In less than fifteen years, Elaine Welteroth has stepped into more career roles and garnered more professional accolades than many people do in a lifetime. Yet, despite her accomplishments, Elaine has suffered from imposter syndrome at different points in her career.

Imposter syndrome is a psychological condition in which an individual experiences feelings of self-doubt and a fear that others will view them as a fraud. Someone with imposter syndrome often attributes their successes to external factors, like good timing or luck, instead of their own talents and skills.

Despite its name, impostor syndrome is not an officially recognized disorder in the Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders (DSM), though people with imposter syndrome might have other mental health conditions like depression and anxiety. Imposter syndrome is sometimes associated with other feelings of inadequacy, like fear of failure and self-sabotage.

Psychologists Pauline Rose Clance and Suzanne Imes first identified impostor syndrome in 1978. Clance and Imes originally theorized that impostor syndrome mostly affected high-achieving women, but subsequent research shows that gender does not play a significant role in determining who experiences imposter feelings.

As the first person in her family to graduate college and a Black woman in positions of leadership, Elaine has firsthand experience with imposter syndrome—something she says is common even in the most confident professionals.

“Imposter syndrome affects so many of us,” she says. “And what I want you to know is it’s natural, and it’s not your fault. There is a whole long, painful history and systems that were set up to make you feel inferior.”

Imposter syndrome can strike at any moment, so it’s important to have a way to counteract those feelings. Here are Elaine’s tips for keeping imposter syndrome in check:

• Recite your counter-mantra. A counter-mantra, or words that can help disprove negative thoughts, will vary from person to person. “Have a counternarrative, a mantra, to push back against those negative thoughts that are coming up, that are telling you that your work isn’t worthy, that your voice doesn’t matter,” she says. “And it might feel a little woo woo. But it’s important to find your thing.”
• Reframe your thoughts. Those with imposter syndrome commonly have negative thoughts about their abilities. “Every time you hear a negative thought come up that tells you you’re less than, you’re not enough, you’re not smart enough … if you really pay attention to the voices in your head, you might notice a lot of negative self-talk,” Elaine says. “Those are symptoms of imposter syndrome, which are symptoms of a larger systematic, racist, sexist, classist, ageist system and culture that we were all raised in … And the important thing is to recognize that you can unlearn some of those beliefs and those harmful thought patterns.”
• Take a breath. Instead of letting this negativity consume you, take a breath. “You can disrupt by taking a breath when you feel [negative thoughts] come up,” Elaine says.
• Write out positive affirmations. Post positive words in spaces where you spend a lot of time. “[Write] out positive affirmations on a sticky note and [put] them in places that you spend time in your house, or at your desk, or even in your phone,” Elaine says. “Plant positive messages in your life. Put them where you can see them and reference them often. You’re gonna need them.”

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