Meet Kim Dankoor

We were lucky to catch up with Kim Dankoor recently and have shared our conversation below.

Kim, first a big thank you for taking the time to share your thoughts and insights with us today. I’m sure many of our readers will benefit from your wisdom, and one of the areas where we think your insight might be most helpful is related to imposter syndrome. Imposter syndrome is holding so many people back from reaching their true and highest potential and so we’d love to hear about your journey and how you overcame imposter syndrome.

I have not overcome it yet, especially in the context of academia, but I am on my way. It is less prevalent than a few years ago. A few things have helped me in this process. First, noticing that I am definitely not the only one. The more conversations I have with peers, the more I realize that we are all just trying to figure it out. It also helped that I saw people with more experience and academic titles than me also don’t always get it right the first time. Being (hyper)critical of your academic peers’ work is part of the process and important for the quality of academic work. That realization also helped, and now I can actually enjoy learning from criticism. Second, experience is key. This is the main reason why I always say yes (“You got this, girl ; )!”) to requests that seem out of my scope at first. The more you do it, the less you experience imposter syndrome.

When it comes to my other endeavors, I experience imposter syndrome even less since I have more years of experience in interviewing people and being interviewed on stages or in the media. Being authentic and unapologetically myself has helped me with that. So for other people: there is really no one like you, for instance, your unique combination of knowledge, personality, presentation, etc., and that—in most cases—should be enough to justify why you are where you are.

Let’s take a small detour – maybe you can share a bit about yourself before we dive back into some of the other questions we had for you?

I am a scholar with a specific focus on rap music and sociology, a media expert, and an interviewer. Currently, I am working on my last chapter of my PhD which explores in what ways strip club dancers can give rap artists more clout (buzz). In this context, strip club dancers can be seen as cultural gatekeepers or ‘street A&R’s’ in the commercial rap world. Furthermore, I teach/lecture on various Hip Hop topics, such as how to conduct Hip Hop research, explicit and implicit political messaging in rap from the three important Hip Hop regions (West, East, and the South), Hip Hop feminism (including strip club dancers), and body ideals and the displays of love in rap music videos. I also often supervise bachelor and master students conducting research on Hip Hop. To come back to a previous question; the extremely nice emails of students kind of helps to get rid of imposter-syndrome too. Additionally, their ‘blown kisses’ and ‘victory dances’ : ) when they receive their diplomas are incredibly motivating. Their gratefulness is a great reminder of what I am maybe capable of .

Next to that I am a media expert and Interviewer associated with my media platform KIMBYKIM (K-c-ritical Insights relating to Media), I work on diverse projects such as talk shows, media literacy awareness initiatives, Hip Hop-based projects for different communities, and exhibitions. Lastly, I interview creatives, politicians, activists, and academics for various organizations and institutions. I frequently ‘switch roles’ from Interviewer to Interviewee, answering questions about Hip Hop culture on (national) radio and televisions shows and podcasts in the U.S. and the Netherlands.

The most exciting part of my job is that every week is different and it has a strong international component. One week I am interviewing the first woman rapper for Hip Hop House Rotterdam in New York, working on the Sounds of Humanity musical project in L.A., writing an article on Hip Hop feminism for Belgian magazine RektoVerso or preparing lectures for the music conference ADE (beats) in Amsterdam, and the other week I am meeting with professors from Canada, giving online speeches for the German university of Oldenburg, waking up at 3 am in the morning to give a lecture on strip club feminism to Erasmus university students and discussing Kendrick Lamar’s diss songs and pop out show on the radio. Hella fun ; )!

I am now co-editing (alongside professor van Eijck) a special Hip Hop issue of the peer reviewed journal ‘Culture + Education’ (LKCA), set to be published in October 2024. The authors killed it, they really did an excellent job. The article topics range from Hip Hop theatre to the implementation of Hip Hop education in vocational schools and colleges.

Looking back, what do you think were the three qualities, skills, or areas of knowledge that were most impactful in your journey? What advice do you have for folks who are early in their journey in terms of how they can best develop or improve on these?

Resilience turned out to be an important characteristic in my journey, which is probably true for everyone’s road to success. For me, trying to build a career overseas definitely required an adaption to change. I have been going back and forth between the Netherlands and the U.S. for a while now, and there are some cultural differences that I had to get used to. And on top of that, there are also regional cultural differences in the U.S. For example, with the whole Southern hospitality thing, I really needed to figure out what certain answers really meant haha.
In general, taking an ‘unconventional route’ (other people’s words too ; )) also comes with certain obstacles that I had to navigate without relying on someone in my direct environment who has already done this before. What really helps to calm down my ‘obstacle panic’ and anxieties is my daily morning routine which consists of mediation and exercising. This also builds discipline, a skill that is important for my journey as well. One thing about me, I may want to cry because something happened, I may have cramps…but I am going to mediate and work out!

In my line of work, being a good listener and flexible is also important. When interviewing people (both for research and media) you want it to be a conversation. You need to listen carefully to their responses and anticipate their answers. Some interviewers are so focused on their set of questions that they miss opportunities to really bond with the interviewee or ask very interesting, sometimes ‘messy’, follow-up questions. The more comfortable someone feels, the more willing they are to open up. Don’t get me wrong, I also have a list of questions for every interview, but you need to be flexible enough to deviate from that. I acquired these skills over the years. At the beginning of my career, I practiced interviews with people and asked them to throw me insane curveballs. I have also taken an interview course and given interview lessons to starting journalists.

And talking some more about flexibility, whatever you do on stage, whether it’s an interview or a lecture, being flexible is an important skill. I remember one time when I was told five minutes before a live panel interview that I had to conduct it in another language and that one guest was being replaced. As an interviewer, you have to be able to handle such changes in a program. Also, when giving lectures, a lot of things can happen. You may forget certain lines of your speech or the presentation might stop working. I’ve learned to roll with it and enjoy the moments when you are doing what you love. Certain things make me less nervous now, and I have to believe that whatever happens (live!), I can handle it. An established journalist once told me that moments like that make you more human and breaks the ice in some way! I have always remembered that.

Before we go, maybe you can tell us a bit about your parents and what you feel was the most impactful thing they did for you?

Fully supporting and not intervening in the ‘unconventional route’ I am taking. They may not always understand my vision, but they support me in every way they can. Even when I was younger, they gave me a certain type of freedom to unapologetically be myself, discover my passions, and explore free from judgment. I am forever thankful for that!

Contact Info:

• Website: https://www.kimbykim.com
• Instagram: @realest_reporter_kd
• Facebook: @kimbykim_NLUSA
• Linkedin: Kim Dankoor
• Twitter: @KIMBYKIM
• Youtube: @realest_reporter_kd

Image Credits

Kinherbagproductions
ADE Beats
Real Talk Real Stories
Hip Hop House Rotterdam