Sheryl Lee Ralph is just getting started.
The Abbott Elementary star won the Emmy for Supporting Actress in a Comedy Series on Sept. 12 for her portrayal of Barbara Howard on the hit ABC comedy, becoming just the second Black actress in history to win the category.
As for how her win—and that iconic speech—have impacted her life, Sheryl said she's felt the powerful reverberations everywhere.
"It has changed everything," she exclusively told E! News. "People talk about the overnight of it all. I went to bed as Sheryl Lee Ralph. I woke up as Sheryl Lee Ralph, Emmy Award winner. Nobody stops saying it. I have traveled to different countries and people open their arms, they talk to me about what it meant when I won. They say to me how I moved them with my speech."
So, how do you follow that up?
"I'm producing a new play on Broadway called Ohio State Murders starring Audra McDonald," Sheryl said. "I've got an Emmy, so why not go for the EGOT?"
The EGOT club—entertainers who have won an Emmy, Grammy, Oscar and Tony Award—currently has 17 members, including John Legend, Audrey Hepburn, Whoopi Goldberg and, most recently, Jennifer Hudson.
While Sheryl was nominated for a Tony for her performance in Dreamgirls in 1982, she's only got the Emmy to her name at the moment. But that might change with Ohio State Murders, which stars six-time Tony winner Audra as fictional writer Suzanne Alexander who returns to her alma mater as a guest speaker to discuss the violence in her written works. The show begins previews Nov. 11 at New York City's Lincoln Center Theater.
Ultimately, Sheryl hopes others get to experience something as exhilarating as her Emmys win—at least once.
"I was just happy to be there and I was happy to get that and have that moment," she said. "I think once in everybody's life, you should have a moment like that, when you walk out there all alone. Then everything changes. Because everything has changed for me and it's for the good."
We can't wait for her Tony Awards speech one day.
Abbott Elementary airs Wednesdays at 9 p.m. on ABC.