A 20-something came to me for advice recently (I tell them in advance I don't have advice, but can only share my experience) and they asked me something that broke my heart for them.

They wanted to know how I managed all my voices, how I was able to have a "professional" voice, be respected in my field and do work for major outlets and cultural institutions, and also tweet about J.Lo and my feelings.

I asked them to take a few minutes to check out my work, read my tweets, and keep in mind how I was talking to them on Zoom.

They came back and gasped "it's the same voice."

Yup. If you happen to be familiar with my work, follow me on social media, and also know me personally, you can attest this is me. I tweet/do journalism the same way I talk to my parents, to my editors, to acquaintances, to lifelong friends, to students, to strangers.

What breaks my heart is that young people believe that to be "professional" is to hide who they are. I am professional because I do good work, not because I adhere to rules on tact and etiquette. Those rules are, and yes you knew it was coming: white supremacy.

I'm sure I have lost work opportunities and that some people think I'm an asshole/clown/phony, because I don't believe in those rules and constantly break them. They're not *my* rules, they don't make sense to me, and let's be honest they don't make sense to white people either.

If to be "professional" means I need to pretend I'm not human, then I'm happy to be unprofessional af. If I wanted to master different voices, I'd be Meryl Streep. I'm not her. I don't want to be her. She's a performer, I'm not.

I can't say I have made my lack of multiple voices "work" for me. There are rooms where I'm not invited, but joke's on them, I don't want to be invited to rooms where I'm asked to be other than myself. Enjoy the charade! I'm busy living a life of transparency and radical honesty.