Behind the Scenes with Sherri Shepherd

Years ago, Sherri Shepherd was at a comedy club, making her friends laugh before the show started, when one of them suggested she become a comic. “I wish I could go back and thank that lady because she planted a seed within this girl who had very low self-esteem, who was shy, who was fearful,” said Shepherd, a Daytime Emmy Award-winning talk show host, comedian, actress, and bestselling author.

After the show, Shepherd approached two noted comics—Eddie Griffin and Andrew Dice Clay—to say she was interested in joining their ranks. Clay suggested she take the stage. Shepherd said she was afraid, and he told her to “Do it scared.” Shepherd said that became her mantra. It has served her well, taking her from someone who had her car repossessed a few times to someone with a hit eponymous talk show.

“I realized in dealing with fear and anxiety that it never really goes away,” Shepherd said. “I've learned to manage her, and I've learned to kick her in the butt most days, and I've learned to silence her, but fear is something: She always comes back strong, and every day I got to kick her in the butt.”

Shepherd was speaking at the SHRM Annual Conference & Expo 2024 (SHRM24) in Chicago and virtually on June 26. During the closing general session, the former legal secretary outlined LEAD, her strategy for success:

• Listen to your intuition.
• Empower your team and others.
• Articulate your vision clearly.
• Deepen your voice, and don’t be afraid.

Listen to Your Intuition

One way Shepherd managed her fear was by listening to her intuition. She said she had been trying to get on the talk show “The View” for a long time and got her break when she was asked to fill in for a co-host who had to leave for an emergency. Shepherd flew across the country to be on the show even though she was supposed to be on pregnancy-related bed rest. She says she was scared because she wasn’t well-versed in politics—a frequent topic on the show. “I knew what I could do was make people laugh, so I sat at the table and made people laugh,” Shepherd said. She was a hit and was asked back to fill in, eventually becoming a permanent co-host.

Shepherd joked that some of her intuitions would trouble HR professionals. For example, when co-host Rosie O’Donnell was fighting with another co-host, Shepherd got up and left the stage, making people laugh. She also grabbed O’Donnell’s breast to make her laugh and alleviate the tension. Shepherd said O’Donnell thought it was hilarious.

“I wouldn't suggest doing this,” Shepherd said. “I'm letting you know because y'all are human resources people, so this will never work with y'all.”

Being persistent also helped. Shepherd says she tried for years to get on “The Ellen DeGeneres Show.” The host was known for dancing at the start of each episode, so Shepherd decided to dance with DeGeneres, a move the host loved. She eventually got her own segment on the show.

Success wasn’t a straight line. Shepherd said she was the only one of four comedians who wasn’t offered a TV show after filling in for TV host Wendy Williams.

“I was devastated. I always wanted my own show,” Shepherd said. She went back to doing stand-up, which helped her develop the ability to talk for extended amounts of time. Meanwhile, a job as a host on “Dish Nation” burnished her ability to look into a camera and read a teleprompter. Her talk show premiered in 2022.

Empower Your Team and Others

Shepherd said that when she was offered the full-time gig on “The View,” she had no idea how much she should be making, yet still felt the compensation was too low. She asked O’Donnell for help, and her advice led to Shepherd's much richer deal.

“She empowered me to take a stand,” Shepherd said, adding that she pays the good deed forward by reaching out to other women who will be hosting talk shows.

Shepherd encourages her team to challenge her, which has helped her career. For example, Shepherd didn’t want to agree to Vice President Kamala Harris’ request to be on her show because she wasn’t comfortable talking about politics. Her producers encouraged her to host Harris, and they wound up speaking about wide-ranging issues beyond politics.

“You have to empower your team,” Shepherd said. “My goodness, it's so important.”

Articulate Your Vision

Shepherd’s talk show took the spot formerly held by Williams’ program, so it was important to her to have a specific approach to her platform that made it unique. “I wanted everything to be through the lens of love, always through the lens of laughter,” Shepherd said. “I wanted my couch to be a safe space.”

She thinks that approach is why her show has been nominated for multiple Daytime Emmy Awards. She has also intentionally highlighted older women. “As we get older, sometimes people don't want to acknowledge us. Sometimes people forget us,” she said. Her show features a contest for older female comedians called “Funny Over 50.” It has been so successful that she is in discussions to turn it into a prime-time, freestanding show. “That is from me articulating my vision,” Shepherd said.

Deepen Your Voice, and Don’t Be Afraid

Barbara Walters, the creator and longtime co-host of “The View," asked Shepherd once why she spoke at such a high pitch. “It was because of the anxiety and fear,” Shepherd said. Now, she tells young women to deepen their voices and speak slower to appear confident even when they are not.

When circumstances aren’t working in your favor, Shepherd said, don’t be afraid to change direction or keep trying. When she couldn’t get her talk show off the ground, she and a friend started a podcast called “Two Funny Mamas.” It has been on for 300 episodes, earned two NAACP Image Awards, and garnered 100,000 followers.

Shepherd wasn’t even afraid to challenge Oprah Winfrey when Winfrey declined to promote the new version of “The Color Purple” on her show. Winfrey had starred in the original film and was a producer on the latest version, a musical. Shepherd called Winfrey often, pointing out that the movie is about the sisterhood between Black women and that her talk show is the highest-rated among Black women. She joked with Winfrey, saying she would lend the billionaire her car, referencing the time Winfrey gave everyone in her audience a car.

Eventually, Winfrey acquiesced.

“I was told 'no' countless times” during her career, Shepherd said. “If you can manage your fear and do it  scared, there are so many blessings if you can get on the other side of fear.”