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.

Humans & Strangers

This is something we have written a good amount of our songs about. Not necessarily being misunderstood as a band, but as individuals. By putting our thoughts into words, and putting those words into lyrics, we have been able to express ourselves and how we want to be understood. It is strange sometimes how you can connect with people and still feel like you hardly know them at all. Obviously, humans are highly complex creatures, so this is a part of the human condition that we all experience at one point or another. Read more>>

LittleDove (Hunja Pulba) Runningbear (Ooye Kapa’mum)

Homa’ kani (greetings), thank you so much for taking the time to reach out and being interested in my story. I have to say that my work has often been both misunderstood and mischaracterized across many different fields. Most notably, my identity as an Indigenous woman is often missed entirely, or in worse cases even misconstrued due to lack of knowledge about Indigenous peoples’ and culture. Read more>>

Hannah Hokit

I think the most frustrating hurdle I’ve faced comes simply from being a female in the industry. It’s an ever-present issue that often gets me lots of rolling eyes the second it’s mentioned; however, the mischaracterization and mistreatment that it has brought upon my career is something I can never forget. When I was just a teenager, I was a contestant in a songwriting competition that I was beyond excited about. Read more>>

Konrad Michalski

As a podcaster, I have come to realize the frustrating reality of being misunderstood by algorithms. In order to be seen by the “god of the algorithm,” I must communicate one-dimensional aspects of myself and my content. This approach inevitably leads to being misunderstood on some level. Read more>>

Avery Indigo

We have often felt misunderstood…especially in this modern musical landscape. I think we tend to focus intensely on the message we want to get across. We know sales, marketability, and sex appeal is still regarded in the industry as important but we feel we are caught in a weird shift. We so badly as a band want to be taken seriously for the messages we focus on such as domestic violence, poor self-image, depression, self hate, trauma, self harm etc. Read more>>

Farrah Flosscett

So before I really took my DJ studies serious, I had a variety of “in search” for my “pocket” and increased wealth moments. During and after college, I used to work in the industry and night life – just in a different lane – doing bartending and bottle service. And I remember still actively doing that while I was behind the scenes learning to DJ, I was making a consistent amazing living, Read more>>

Qween Amor

Absolutely! All of the time. Let me tell you what being an artist is for me. As an artist, and I’m speaking for myself here, I create as a way to cope with reality. It’s a way for me to process my pain and turn it into something beautiful. I create moments and I leave the audience with nothing more than a feeling and a memory. It’s not my place to dictate how the audience perceives my work. They’re going to see whatever they need to see. Read more>>

Alabaster

Burlesque often gets shoved into different boxes that it doesn’t need to exist in. And it happens within the burlesque industry as well as by the wider public. The funny thing is that no one can seem to agree on which mischaracterization it belongs to. There are lots of debates about whether Burlesque is a form of sex work, whether it can be classified as art, whether it is shameful or liberating. Read more>>

Jozanne Marie

As a woman of color and an artist, so many times I have been called in for characters that have no depth. Roles that are crafted with every stereotype possible for a black girl. At some point I had to say no to it. I believe as an artist I have a responsibility on what stories I want to tell about Black women. Black Caribbean women, specifically. We need to take the time to see what Black women are we depicting in our scripts. Read more>>

AJ, the One

My debut project Bussin out the Box is all about breaking boundaries and creating your own lane in a world where there’s much less traffic. Much less pressure to look left and right! Society makes it hard to be yourself, especially if your natural form exists outside the “norm” but nobody is normal – some people just hide it better than others. Read more>>

Solomon Keys

I grew up in a small town in Mississippi called Mendenhall. My classmates in Jackson (an hour away) didn’t know where it was or had even heard of it. That’s how small it is. Mendenhall is still segregated by train tracks. My family and I lived on the ‘white side’ but went to elementary school and spent most of our time on the ’Black side.’ Read more>>

Valencia Wilson

The manner I practice my medium is very unique and not often used. People have difficulty understanding the different possibilities of plant material. My medium is mixed media, specializing in sustainable botanical materials. Most botanical artists use paint, pencils, and other drawing material to create their art. I use the plant material itself. My art is living art, the material I use to create my art is plant material and upcycled vintage frames. In the manner which I use the plant material gives each piece a 3D effect. I use plant material from sustainable farms and forage in my local area, I’m also working on growing the material myself. Read more>>