Poet Amanda Gorman Gets Candid with Michelle Obama About Feeling 'Imposter Syndrome' Amid Success

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Between reading her work "The Hill We Climb" at the inauguration of President Joe Biden, shooting to the top of Amazon's bestseller list, being signed to IMG Models, and preparing to perform an original poem at the upcoming 2021 Super Bowl pregame show, it has been a busy few weeks for Amanda Gorman.

Now, the 22-year-old youth poet graces the cover of Time magazine, where she chats with Michelle Obama about how her success wasn't something that just happened — in fact, her "astronomical life change," she says, "took a lifetime, and it took a village."

"Something I haven't told anyone else is, for the past six years whenever I've written a poem that I knew was going to be public or performed, I told myself, write the inauguration poem," says Gorman. "And what that meant for me is not necessarily write a poem that's about a president. It was: Write a poem that is worthy of a new chapter in the country."

In part, Gorman's poem read, "Let the globe, if nothing else, say this is true: That even as we grieved, we grew: That even as we hurt, we hoped, that even as we tired, we tried, that we'll forever be tied together, victorious ... Not because we will never again know defeat, but because we will never again sow division."

As Gorman tells Mrs. Obama, 57, for Time, "In everything you write, write something that is brave enough to be hopeful. In everything that you write, write something that is larger than yourself. I don't think I would have been able to write that inauguration poem if I hadn't lived every day of my life as if that was the place I was going to get."

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Photograph by Awol Erizku for TIME taken on Jan. 29; fashion styling by Jason Bolden; makeup by Autumn Moultrie — The Wall Group; dress by Greta Constantine Amanda Gorman on the cover of TIME

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Gorman tells the former first lady that right now, she feels like we're experiencing "an important moment in Black art because we're living in an important moment in Black life."

"Whether that's looking at what it means politically to have an African-American president before [Donald] Trump, or looking at what it means to have the Black Lives movement become the largest social movement in the United States," she shares. "What's been exciting for me is I get to absorb and to live in that creation I see from other African-American artists that I look up to."

For Gorman, it's extra poignant that she gets to be a part of the creative movement, having the opportunity "to create art and participate in that historical record."

"We're seeing it in fashion, we're seeing it in the visual arts," she continues. "We're seeing it in dance, we're seeing it in music. In all the forms of expression of human life, we're seeing that artistry be informed by the Black experience. I can't imagine anything more exciting than that."

Rob Carr/Getty Youth Poet Laureate Amanda Gorman speaks at the inauguration of U.S. President Joe Biden

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RELATED VIDEO: Amanda Gorman Says Barack Obama Told Her "You Made Us Proud" After Powerful Inauguration Poem

Amanda Gorman Says Barack Obama Told Her 'You Made Us Proud' After Powerful Inauguration Poem

Amanda has gained more than 2million new twitter followers

Despite her success, Gorman — who has been open about dealing with a speech impediment — admits to struggling with self-doubt and "imposter syndrome," telling Mrs. Obama that "speaking in public as a Black girl is already daunting enough, just coming onstage with my dark skin and my hair and my race."

"That in itself is inviting a type of people that have not often been welcomed or celebrated in the public sphere," she says. "Beyond that, as someone with a speech impediment, that imposter syndrome has always been exacerbated because there's the concern, 'Is the content of what I'm saying good enough?' And then the additional fear: 'Is the way I'm saying it good enough?' "

When asked by Mrs. Obama whether she has any advice for young Black girls "who earn their way into the spotlight," Gorman says she's more interested in whether they have any advice for her, as she's "still learning" how to navigate her newfound fame.

"I would say anyone who finds themselves suddenly visible and suddenly famous, think about the big picture," she advises. "Especially for girls of color, we're treated as lightning or gold in the pan — we're not treated as things that are going to last. You really have to crown yourself with the belief that what I'm about and what I'm here for is way beyond this moment. I'm learning that I am not lightning that strikes once. I am the hurricane that comes every single year, and you can expect to see me again soon."