Often, those who tread off the beaten path are misunderstood or mischaracterized and so we asked folks from the community to reflect and tell us about the times they’ve been misunderstood or mischaracterized.

Erica Sandifer

Mental Illness is what I like to call, a “specialized stigma”, especially among black communities. Talking about mental illness is taboo, or where you have to be brave enough to not really care of the opinions that will be devised of you. I am living with bipolar 1 disorder, severe depression and anxiety, and recently I was diagnosed with borderline personality disorder. Those who are ignorant to these diseases automatically associate a negative connotation to you or your personality, identifying you as “crazy”. Read more>>

Lee Moore

Bacnaf clothing has been mischaracterized many of time because of the true meaning behind it. Many people think bacnaf is just a brand for clothes, but bacnaf is a brand that promotes art and self individuality for whoever is ready to be different. One situation that happened to me is at a vintage event i was vending for the first time with my custom clothes and while i was sitting waiting on customers one specific man came up to the booth and was looking at my items and he told me “what are you doing here? You should be at art show” that statement right there made me realize that some people understand what bacnaf means. Read more>>

Kris Castilon

Years ago, I felt very misunderstood by a lot of people in my life. Specific people who I considered close friends, in their defense I think maybe I didn’t understand myself either? I was only nineteen then and now I’m twenty-three, the feeling I grasped that day has yet to leave my side, it grows more quiet by the seasons, I’ve always had a huge heart for undeniable connections. Losing them in particular, people I spent time with almost everyday for over a year, to nothing. Read more>>

Michel Janse

I think sharing your life on the internet is a continuous experiment on the concept of being “misunderstood or mischaracterized” in one way or another. Nobody ever sees the full picture, and it is human nature to try and fill in the blanks (which may or may not be accurate about the people we watch online). I think I experienced a more extreme example of this when navigating a divorce while continuing to vlog everyday for youtube. Read more>>

Dale Papp.

I wouldn’t say my work has been misunderstood really, but my way of taking the music path most definitely has been for many. I am thankful that I had the awareness early on in this journey to study and embrace all music and music culture. I use to hold strictly to one genre but when I gave chances to other types of music and writing styles, that’s when I really started becoming a better and wide range writer. Read more>>

Shayla McIntyre

I think the biggest mischaracterization of my work is that I am using my platform to be a food blog. Although I do post quite a lot of food content and it is unfortunately what I have showcased the most lately, it has always been a small portion of what I actually want to accomplish. Everything I want to communicate to my audience is in the name of my platform: Living Not Loathing. Simply choosing to live, be present, and experience life. Read more>>

King Lingo

Yes……Throughout my whole career I’ve watched people overlook my work and creativity. I was raised in a small town known as “Emporia”, which is located in Southern Virginia. Growing up we had very few people go on to succeed with their Careers. We didn’t have a high pro athletic rate, or a big celebrity, or even a professional team. To me, Highschool athletics and the local music scene was our strongpoint. But we never really had that 1 person that officially put the city on the map. Read more>>

Shennay Hampton A.K.A Shè RNB

Yes I have absolutely felt misunderstood. I became apart of a entertainment network of music and video professionals thinking it would be a good way to kickstart my career as an artist and acting professional. At first things went well and I started to gain popularity amongst my peers however once they started to have issues amongst each other I became ousted because I chose to not engage with thier issues or pick a side. Read more>>

Kris Collins.

Growing up I was never good enough, and that just carried into adulthood. Being a creative has never been the easiest. I’ve always had family members and former lovers tell me I needed to “grow up” or “be logical” regarding my life and what I should do career-wise. I always tried to find creative careers, but that’s always been tough growing up and residing in Lynchburg, Virginia. Things have changed a lot in the area in the last several years, but I basically came to a realization that an Art career (job) doesn’t exist for me here. I had to create my own career in Art. Read more>>

Dana Kippel

My whole life I have had this common archetype of being misunderstood – and not until recently did I realize I had been unconsciously attracting these situations and feelings in to my life. I have always had low self esteem and self worth due to certain traumas and my upbringing. I recently correlated that when ( these last two years) , after being in a darker place, I started to heal the root cause of these issues , I started to attract people who understood and supported me in my life. I think our outer world is a direct reflection of how we feel internally about ourselves. Read more>>