Cynthia Erivo, the keynote speaker at the University of Colorado Boulder’s Conference on World Affairs. (CU Boulder Today)
Cynthia Erivo, a Grammy, Tony and Emmy winner and star of “Wicked,” was the keynote speaker at the 2025 Conference on World Affairs, held on April 7 at Macky Auditorium. She shared her experiences, gave advice and answered questions from students at the University of Colorado Boulder, all themed around leadership and impact.
While the tickets for Erivo’s speech were free, students, faculty and members of the public had to act fast, as tickets for the event sold out within 30 minutes. On the day of the event, fans – some in their favorite “Wicked”- themed outfits – began lining up hours before the speech began, hoping to get as close to Erivo as possible.
Clayton Bopp, a junior at CU Boulder, reserved his ticket immediately, being a huge fan of “Wicked” and Erivo. He was intrigued as to why she was chosen for the speech and said he was interested to hear what she would talk about. Bopp was one of many who erupted into applause when Erivo walked on stage.
Erivo said that one of the ways she showed leadership to others was by listening to them and knowing what they needed. She summed this up in being well-connected to everyone that she is in a room with; subsequently taking off her stylish gold glasses to be able to see the audience members better.
Erivo shared her experiences of training at the Royal Academy of Dramatic Arts and auditioning for every role possible. She auditioned for many more roles than she has gotten to play, and noted that it was hard to keep auditioning while only getting rejected.
But somewhere along the way, her mindset changed. She decided to use every audition as practice: an extra time to master a song, to try a new tone during a monologue or to prepare herself for hearing a “yes.”
“Nothing that has ever come to me has ever come to me at the wrong time,” Erivo said. “I sort of realized that whatever role was right for me was going to be mine anyways. So, my job was to prepare myself for when the job did come.”
Erivo shared a story from Oprah Winfrey, with whom Erivo worked during the 2005 Broadway revival of “The Color Purple.”
During their time working together, Erivo said that Winfrey saw how much energy Erivo had poured into things like press tours and events for their musical revival. After receiving an email invite to an event, Winfrey sent an email to Erivo with one thing: a cartoon emoji designed to look like Winfrey holding up prayer hands with the message, “Say no.”
Erivo said that this is the best advice that she had ever been told.
“It was so loud, but calm at the same time,” she said. “Loving, but stern.”
Stefanie K. Johnson, the director of CU Boulder’s Center for Leadership, moderated the speech.
Johnson acknowledged that much of Erivo’s global impact has come from her constant effort to be herself. Starring in Jonathan Chu’s “Wicked” boosted Erivo into the forefront of pop culture. Her fans watched as she advocated for diversity and walked numerous red carpets bald-headed, a style Erivo said she adapted during the filming of the movie. But the impact Erivo has had is not something she intended, and oftentimes is something she can’t see.
“I hope that even if I can’t see it, I’m making people more confident in themselves. I want to make sure that people understand that there are so many types of beauty, and there’s room for all of it,” Erivo said.
Erivo has portrayed many well-known characters like Celie in “The Color Purple” and Harriet Tubman in “Harriet.” She said that even though many of the roles she has played are strong women, this is not a requirement. Erivo said that in every role, she looks for the character who scares her the most, knowing that taking on the challenge of portraying them will help her learn more about herself and will improve her acting skills.
Erivo works to portray different sides of well-known, heroic people through raw, relatable emotions like love and heartbreak.
“That’s what I’m seeking; trying to find vulnerability in the characters, trying to find out what their hearts’ desires are,” Erivo said.
Johnson’s questions then began focusing on the future, during which Erivo spoke of the immense change that has happened and will continue to happen in the world. She compared change to a swinging pendulum about to shift directions to a new extreme, but advised that eventually the pendulum would balance itself out.
“Be encouraged that change will happen, because it has to. There is no other choice but for it to happen,” Erivo said.
After watching Erivo speak, Bopp said it was special to see her “make a human-to-human connection, which is something you don’t always see with celebrities.”
Even though many people who attended the speech were fans of “Wicked,” Erivo held off on going into detail about the movie until the end of her speech. On the topic of bringing diversity to the roles she played, Erivo shared that she loved Elphaba.
“She is all of the things that most people fear: She’s different,” Erivo said.
In every role she plays, Erivo hopes to open up the industry for others. Knowing that a queer black woman has found success in a role like “Wicked’s” Elphaba makes it easier for other diverse people to have leading roles in the future. She recalled rehearsing and filming “Defying Gravity” and the power that she felt singing those words over and over again.
“I felt like it was a loud proclamation that being different can actually be wonderful,” Erivo said.
Contact CU Independent Staff Writer Addisson Pribble at Addisson.Pribble@colorado.edu.
