Nicola Mendhelson’s first question to a seemingly nervous Nicole Scherzinger was how the industry has changed since she was the lead singer of the Pussycat Dolls back in 2005. “In that time there was a mystique about you as an artist” referring to the constant exposure of celebrities and artists through social media platforms in today’s technology-centric society. However, her opinions on social media seemed overall positive, she moved on to talk about how she uses Instagram to promote her charity work and connect with her fanbase, “The utilization of social platforms are important for the campaigns I’m part of, Instagram and Facebook are raw, unfiltered and directly from you”.
Moving on to her charity work, with special focus on the Special Olympics, Scherzinger made it very clear where her passions lie and showed how authenticity and integrity is an important part of being in the spotlight. When asked how people can get involved and show their own support for the Special Olympics Scherzinger responded beautifully with “Experiencing the love and the light makes you passionate”. One thing that can be said for Nicole Scherzinger is she uses her passions to drive her and this in turn creates a sense of purpose a lot of brands could learn from.
As 2018 marks the 100th year anniversary since women won the right to vote Mendhelson delved into the complicated topic of feminism and female empowerment with reference to the Time’s Up movement. “It’s a beautiful time for women, we’re moving one step closer” Scherzinger made it clear she believed the industry is changing towards an equal future and took the opportunity to remind us how important it is that we raise each other up rather than see every other woman as competition. “We’re the only ones who know each other’s struggles”
Scherzinger’s advice to young women seemed as though she was speaking from her own experiences. “Don’t be so hard on yourself,” her first response to the question I think resonated with every person in the room “try not to get lost in the Instagram stuff, remember there’s a reason why you’re here; don’t get lost in the hype” with social platforms so intrinsically linked to our daily lives it’s hard to separate reality from an Instagram filter.
When asked how she stays relevant working across such a broad range of genres and sectors she highlighted her own work ethic “There’s something to be said for being passionate, hardworking and hungry” and then joked “I’m always hungry”. Scherzinger hit us with another reminder of how she values her own work and grounds herself by constantly asking the question; “What is my real purpose in this space?” This was clarified further when Mendhelson asked her to pick her favourite industry to work in. Out of theatre, reality TV mentorship and music Scherzinger responded “First part of me would pick the theatre. The theatre is a very sacred place for me, I can connect with people in a very intimate space” throughout the interview Scherzinger showed how much she enjoys human connection and it was clear that the human connection is what drives her work ethic. In terms of the mentorship on X factor “I’m meant to mentor, that’s my purpose, I don’t need cameras to do that”.
Nicole Scherzinger holds herself accountable making sure she stays true to herself. She admits coming from a big family forces her to stay humble and grounded she talked about her support network being her family of strong women particularly her sister and her “Badass girl squad”. Stating “It’s really nice to find women who help you and stop you feeling alienated”.
Scherzinger briefly spoke about what she was planning stating “I miss music so much”. Not being able to confirm anything or speak in too much detail she teased us “People haven’t seen me yet and they haven’t seen what I’m made of”. It was a great interview to see the woman behind the music and behind the impressive portfolio of roles from X factor to UNICEF and Special Olympics partnerships. It sounds like 2018 might be a pretty big year for Nicole Scherzinger.