How Yara Shahidi and Her Mom Keri Went From Being Podcast Superfans to Hosting 'The Optimist Project'

Curiosity comes naturally to the Shahidis. And, yes, I am referring to actor, producer, philanthropist, and Harvard alumna Yara Shahidi's family. In addition to Yara's many skills and interests, the multi-hyphenate and her mom, Keri, have been podcast superfans their whole lives. (No, seriously. Keri revealed that instead of screen time, Yara and her siblings opted for audio experiences and good 'ol books to open their world to new perspectives as kids.) Fast forward nearly 20 years: Yara and Keri can officially add "podcast host" to their already-impressive resumés thanks to their upcoming podcast, The Optimist Project, which will be released through SiriusXM’s Listen Next initiative later this year. And after a chatty Tuesday afternoon Zoom, I can confirm the mother-daughter duo is brilliant, engaging, and extremely easy to connect with through conversation—so a pod is a perfect fit for their next venture.

Through the podcast, Yara and Keri are connecting with changemakers across different industries to beg a simple (but somehow, loaded) question: "What gives you hope?" Yara and Keri took a moment away from their busy schedules to speak with Cosmopolitan about why it was important for The Optimist Project to be the first audio project released through their production company, 7th Sun Productions, and how they find pockets of positivity in their day-to-day lives.

What inspired you to introduce The Optimist Project as the first audio project from 7th Sun Productions? And why now?

Keri Shahidi: It sounds simplistic, but curiosity has driven so much of what we do, and I feel like we've anchored our worlds in that. Sometimes, we just get so happy about how curious we are, we want to share it with everybody. Because we've always had these intergenerational relationships, whether it's between Yara and her grandparents or myself and some other people, that has also always been a bridge in all of our relationships where the teaching is just fluid going both ways. We thought, what a perfect opportunity to see if anybody else is as curious as we are.

We're not just talking about news because we have incredible peers that talk about the news. We're talking about the leaders in every space, whether it is a fine artist, an Uber driver, an athlete, or somebody chasing whatever their passions are. We all have our place in the world and we really give each other space to find it. There are a lot of pressures to show up certain ways and I think the more that we share that, there are these chords that tie us. We don't know where we're tied, but we're all tied together and we can find inspiration. So we find these people in all of these spaces doing these incredible things, and all it seems to ask of us is to be open. It ends up just blossoming other ideas, hopefulness, and pushes us forward in finding our purpose.

Yara Shahidi: What sent us into this project is that it is a pursuit. Positivity is something we're constantly chasing and going after. It's a journey of figuring out the small things that fill us up. So much of this project blossomed for us because we constantly hear about self-care practices. Sometimes we can say the word may be reduced to face masks and tasks, but I think what fascinated us most was talking to people that are deep in the work of trying to make the world a better place.

Their optimism and their joy doesn't come from an ignorance or looking the other way, but being so tapped in and being so motivated. It reflects many of the conversations we've already been lucky enough to have with the people in our worlds. We're all trying to collectively change something that we're trying to move past or against. We always leave inspired, because it always comes back to "Well, what brings you joy? Why do you wake up and keep doing this work?" Through that vulnerability, I feel like we've had so many breakthrough moments and aha moments.

What have you taught each other about positivity throughout the years?

Yara: I remember my mom helped me put together what we call my "Hard Yes" list, which was my own personal search for pulling joy in my day-to-day life. She would make sure I'd note every time I had a great experience—that could be a waffle, that could be a friend, that could be a travel moment, that could be a book. We were always in conversation with each other about how we're building our own positivity practices, how they ebb and flow and how they move with us during work.

Keri: Chronologically, I'm her mother—that does not mean I am her teacher. I've been in a space of learning with her and with so many people in my world for so many years, and I'm super grateful. Even though we're decades apart, we're open and vulnerable about curating friendships and having new experiences. I've been very open about being nervous when I'm doing something new. Just because I'm in my fifties, that doesn't mean that I'm an expert. In fact, I'm really a neophyte in so many spaces. We've gone through very similar moments so many times, and it's led to moments of me looking to Yara, like, "Hey, what's your experience in a certain space?" She's the one that brought me into the space of art. It's become an obsession for me, and she leads me. We just keep going back and forth and bring our friends into it as well.

What is it like to work on a professional project together as a mother-daughter duo?

Yara: It's really such a joy because we're the same person in different bodies, which makes it quite easy.

Keri: She's more adventurous than I am.

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Yara: Even astrologically speaking—we're a Leo and an Aquarius—we were supposed to be buddies in all ventures. What makes this work so well is the fact that we have that transparency and openness in all of our spaces. We get to have deep conversations, not just about business, but how this business is fueling us personally. It makes the work more fun because it's not just about "What is the next business venture, what is the next move?" But it focuses on what the next milestone is personally and professionally. What is the next moment that we want to pursue in our own lives and what's motivating us? It came down to what would be fulfilling at this moment and what we are so excited to do.

What are you looking forward to the most when it comes to hosting the pod?

Keri: We always want to give people the space to really explore sides of them that other people don't know. For a lot of forward facing people, audiences assume they know everything about that person. We love to give the elbow room for people to say "Well, this is what I'm curious about. This is not what I do for work, but this is what inspires me."

Yara: That's always been a through line. We even set the intention every time we've done anything that entails hosting or bringing guests in, which is without being salacious or looking for secrets. It's truly "What do you wanna share about yourself?" This project lends itself towards those conversations because obviously we'll be talking about work and such, but so much of it is really personal practice. What are the things that drive you when no one else is looking? What are the things that you're doing in your free time?

It's always been a surprise to us and to everyone listening, the amount of things that people do to fill their lives up outside of what you know them for. It's only such a small part of who they are and what their practice is and what their community looks like. Something that a lot of young people end up saying, is, "Oh, wow. I've always felt so much pressure to find my thing." Hearing that nobody finds their one thing, but we find our things is really reassuring.

Yara, you’ve amplified diverse voices throughout your career and have used your platform to speak on important issues that inspire change. Who has taught you the most about using your platform for advocacy?

Yara: Well, I say this not just 'cause she's right here, but I do get it from my mama. What people see of me as a public-facing person is truly just a reflection of the intergenerational conversations we have in our home. The conversations she's encouraged me to have with my grandparents, the reason why it was never much of a thought, is that for the decades I've been alive we have always gathered and talked about what moves us.

Yara speaking at Los Angeles’ March For Our Lives in 2018.

I'm grateful for Blackish because it created a natural pathway to be on a show that unabashedly was talking about current events. It just allowed us to look at each other like, "What conversations do we want to have?"

I think it also creates such a clarity of our mission in art and how we want to show up. It defines how we show up in our production company and the idea of wanting to tell stories that are exciting to us, but also being equally as tickled and moved by what we can move the ball forward on. My mom's the first to get into the contracts and say, "Well, how can we support this writer of color who should get producer credit but is going to get blocked? Well, here's what we'll give up. This is what we'll advocate for." Those are the things that make our work exciting—otherwise it can feel like fluff. From a very young age we've discussed how the entertainment world is the stuff that we do, but it's not who we are.

While a lot of leaders and activists are motivated by hope for a better future, they’re also moved to make change because of fear and challenges. How were you able to tap in with your guests to discuss their dreams and promote positivity?

Yara: Oftentimes, if you're of a marginalized community, there is this simultaneous acknowledgement of fear and of why we must sustain and push forward. We really hope to leave the door open to have that conversation. We're not expecting people to gloss over that feeling of what it is to be a kid in Florida, or being asked to hide something about yourself. We want to know, what are the things that continue to motivate you to work through the fear? Who are the people you turn to? We talk about what's scary when the very basic question is: What is pushing us to still get up and do the work? We need a soft place to land and have those conversations because many things are driven by a fear of what happens without an audacious dream or some hopefulness. We are planting the seeds of saying all of what you are is exactly who you're supposed to be.

What’s a pocket of peace or positivity you’ve found recently?

Yara: If I'm answering for my mom, I'd say puzzles. I love watching her be obsessed with puzzles and helping find a singular piece.

Keri: It's one of those things that allows your mind to be quiet. We went to the Prado Museum in Madrid and there's a piece of artwork there that I'm just obsessed with—The Garden of Earthly Delights by Bosch. It's a triptych and closes and it shows you heaven and hell. It's just the most intricate painting and it's vivid when you open it up and on the back, it's gray and it's monotone. I came home from the trip and Yara had a custom wood puzzle made of The Garden of Earthly Delights, which is on my table right now. I just walk by and I'll do like 5, 10, 15 minutes and it's just so beautiful. So for me, it's puzzles.

The Garden of Earthly Delights by Hieronymus Bosch.

Yara: Music has always been such a motivator for me. In finding different hobbies, I realized I kind of went to work, went to school, and went to bed for a second. It's been really cool to continuously put myself in an experience of learning, and it's helped me push through a lot of my own battle of being like, "If I'm not good at this, then why am I doing this?" It's become so joyful. I feel like the series of new experiences that you set up has really been so fun because it has been everything from me watercoloring in my free time, to attending a proper class from an artist, to my brother hearing slow and reverbed jazz songs when I call him. I get on FaceTime and he asked one of our family friends, who's a DJ, "Please give Yara lessons for me so that when she calls me, it's not just the horn."

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What do you ultimately hope listeners take away from The Optimist Project?

Keri: We hope they take whatever is resonant and that we just leave a space for them to go on this journey together and feel confident that we all deserve to chase our curiosities and that it's a worthy cause.

Yara: As you said about the feeling of overwhelm that can go with wanting to be of service to the world, we hope that this is a way in which we can move through it together. It's not to say, "Get over it." Sometimes, that overwhelming feeling is an instinct and it is a motivator and a driver. The reason why we even gathered the list of people we're excited to talk to is because they can hold that duality of "how do we work through this?" and "what are the things that fill you up?" And it was selfishly so that we could grab some of that knowledge and share it.

This interview has been lightly edited and condensed for clarity.

Catch Yara and Keri on SiriusXM's The Optimist Project starting later this year.