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Nicole Byer was confident and bubbly as soon as she stepped onto the stage at Goldstein Auditorium. Her smile was infectious, and the audience buzzed with excitement as she took her place in the hot seat across from student moderator Denise Magny, a Syracuse University senior.

Byer is an actor, comedian and author known for her role as host on “Nailed It!,” a Netflix original baking competition show. Some attendees who asked Byer questions also recognized her from MTV’s “Girl Code.” She came to SU for a Q&A Tuesday night.

Byer addressed Magny and the audience colloquially. She used her hands to answer questions, performed brief impressions of famous TV personalities and her former costars and made silly faces between answering questions. SU senior Tereyna Ancira said her mom encouraged her to watch Byer speak. Seeing her in person, Ancira said, was surreal.

“It’s like going to a concert and then seeing artists that you like, but it’s surreal seeing them on stage and that they actually exist,” Ancira said.

Byer spoke to SU students for an hour, answering Magny’s pre-written questions and those from the audience. Byer was charismatic and personable, riffing with the crowd as she tried to remember the name of a Rihanna song she liked or appreciating a few audience members’ tastes in TV shows. As prompted by Magny, Byer also spoke about her upbringing and entrance into acting, projects that she’s worked on recently and what she imagines her future to be like.

A standout moment of the night occurred when Byer spoke candidly on what it’s like to be a Black woman in Hollywood. As a comedian, she punctuated her explanation with jokes — received to much laughter — but wasn’t afraid to be honest.

“Auditions are f*cked up. They’re terrible,” Byer said. “So you walk into a room, there are eight women who look identical to you, just like fat ladies who are Black in jewel tones. And you have to be delusional and be like, ‘I’m better than those fats, they’re gonna want this fat.’”

The “Nailed It!” host was confident and bubbly while she was on stage and talking to her audience. Sophia Moore | Asst. Copy Editor

The event, presented by the Women’s Leadership Initiative in partnership with Student Association, placed a special emphasis on confidence, representation and womanhood in honor of Women’s History Month. Byer said she doesn’t want to act as a representative for all Black, fat women of the world, but she finds value in inspiring confidence in people on an individual level. Her book, “#VERYFAT #VERYBRAVE: The Fat Girl’s Guide to Being #Brave and Not a Dejected, Melancholy, Down-in-the-Dumps Weeping Fat Girl in a Bikini,” was one vehicle through which she’s done just that, she said.

Byer also gave general advice on how to be confident. She said there was no particular moment in her life that inspired her assured attitude, but she did give the audience some tips on embracing who they are and why it’s important to practice self love.

“Why not just be confident?” Byer said. “It takes more energy to be sad, and I think it takes more energy to question why you’re in the room, because if you’re in a room of people you admire and you have a little bit of imposter syndrome, why? Someone else believes you belong in that room, someone else made that choice for you to be in that room, so why would you let that person down and just do your sh*t?”

At the end of the night, Byer stopped to take pictures with fans who stayed behind. She also engaged with staffers at the event and told jokes about where she was going to get dinner, referencing a Ruby Tuesday’s and McDonald’s nearby.

Magny, who majors in biology, said she was happy to have expanded her horizons interviewing Byer. Being a student on the STEM side of SU, Magny said that tonight’s event was an opportunity for her to branch out, and she’s glad she did. She said she’s also glad to have had a learning moment with Byer on stage.

“My favorite part was when I said ‘plus size.’ I was hesitant to say ‘plus size,’ because I know that she is an advocate of saying fat, but I got corrected,” Magny said. “I’m empowered to say the word ‘fat’ if people feel comfortable, so I think that was a humbling moment for me and I’m still growing with being confident within myself.”

Published on March 30, 2022 at 12:39 am