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.

Hannah McClendon

Being misunderstood. This topic was challenging to put into words, but I’m thankful that I’m able to. Socially, I can become a chameleon. I can navigate and work through any social situation with any personality type. As for my own, I’m an INFP. I’m a very animated and intense person with the limitations of a social battery. When I was a teenager, I noticed the way I was being perceived as different from the way I saw myself. I was often called ‘stuck up’ when I knew I just preferred to be careful and reserved as far as my personal lifestyle. In college, I was bullied quite often when it came to that lifestyle. Read more>>

Ayda Akbal

Whenever I walk into a space with other creatives, I know I am automatically getting put into specific boxes in their minds. This is true for anyone – working in any space – but for me, I’d like to speak to my experience being a composer walking into these spaces. Let’s say I’m at a ‘networking’ (friend-making) event. I walk into that space and other people immediately see a petite young woman, with long brown hair and sneakers, entering the room. She can’t really see past the first group of people, because almost everyone is taller than her, and so she doesn’t really know if she knows anyone there. I imagine this running through people’s heads – “Who is she – maybe a vocalist? Maybe she’s just starting out, and is here for some guidance? She doesn’t seem to see anyone she knows here, she must be new.” Read more>>

Swim. Søul

I think one of the biggest misunderstandings about me as an artist has always been around, “What genre of music do you make?” and, “How are you getting a PhD if you are a rapper?” I think in both instances being misunderstood and/or mischaracterized can describe why these things are so puzzling to people. In my own life, I’ve never separated the journey of learning about the world from the experience of being an artist. I always say that the first philosophers I ever loved were Tupac and Kanye. These three things (art, music, and philosophy) are intimately connected to me in ways that are hard to understand unless you really sit and listen to the music, sit and read my writing, and sit and speak with me. Patience is a virtue of understanding; speed is a virtue of mischaracterization. Read more>>

Stefany Bryan

I think being an artist means you inherently will be misunderstood by people. Or maybe you are misunderstood and that’s why you make art. Or maybe both. People will always give unsolicited advice about my music and give their own vision of where my music should go. While I must appreciate and take into consideration what everyone thinks I should sound like, I have to remember to be true to myself, and that my songwriting career is still very new so I will find my own path as I go. I also think that it is natural for people to want to put your music into a nice sealed box to categorize what they are hearing, but at the end of the day I don’t need to adhere to any specific genre, I am allowed to flow between them or exist outside of them. Read more>>

Deion Williams

Being a dancer in San Diego and trying to climb to the top is hard. And in this space, being a Black/African American dancer in a non Black/African American space that pulls from Black Culture is even harder. A lot of my upbringing and culture is what made me want to be a dancer. Music videos, concerts, functions, and more are all apart of my inner well being as a Black dancer. But when I first started dancing, I was in a predominantly Filipino dance space. It was hip hop and I was brand new and happy to be in the dance world. As I grew older and went through my experiences, I was hit with a lot of microaggressions and racism. Read more>>

Mama Moon

I am one of those individuals that are often viewed as “eccentric”. Everything I do is often questioned in relation to what people believe things to be. As a musician, artists tend to adopt or try to discover who they will be as an artist and how they will present themselves. I never had to do that. Who I am is informed by my art. I never tried to appeal to a certain genre or audience I am always undeniably myself. The music I do now is Blues Fusion. Blues with a little something extra. In this genre, there is a way, a look, and a sound that is representative of what people will accept to be “the Blues”. Read more>>

Nautica Gant

For a minute people use to categorize me as an Instagram model and it honestly rubbed me the wrong way. I take pride and a lot of effort goes into making these shoots happen. I have full creative control and I love to see my vision come to life. So when people used to say that I was an Instagram model, it made me feel some type away because I actually put a lot of effort into my shoots versus Instagram Models are just a pretty face. I want people to know me as a professional model not just someone who post pretty pictures on IG. I also do runway modeling as well so I never understood why people would say that. I look back and say those people just didn’t know what they were talking about. The PROFESSIONALS see my craft and that’s all that matters. Read more>>

Vittoria Colonna

It’s the journey of Art and Self- Discovery. It’s all about embracing one’s human complexity. In the realm of art, the boundaries defining roles and expectations often confine artists to singular labels. For me, as a screenwriter, film director, performance artist, painter, textile artist, and spiritual seeker, the question of which box I fit into has been a perpetual puzzle — Artist? Creative? Storyteller? Eccentric? Or perhaps, still undecided? Breaking down the taboo surrounding how artists are perceived becomes a crucial part of this narrative. I find it intriguing that, even today, there exists confusion about what I actually do. Along my path to becoming a contemporary Renaissance woman, I’ve encountered both encouragement and disapproval from unexpected sources. Read more>>

cindy macias

I have always felt misunderstood. maybe its that i was the middle child, but i never felt that I had a safe space so art became that to me at a very young age. in my composition notebook i would create these collages that served as vision boards for the life I wanted to create myself. I was scolded for creating and subconsciously i stopped creating. When the pandemic came, I was at home more than i wanted to be and i had to face my childhood trauma of sexual abuse from older family members. Through my art, I named the experiences and havent stopped creating since. Much of my work is an exploration of my curiosities that went untapped in childhood. Read more>>

Aries Eye

In my profession as a medium, being frequently misunderstood is both a challenge and an opportunity for growth. People often hold misconceptions about mediums, assuming that we are solely fortune-tellers or charlatans. However, the reality is quite different. As a medium, I possess the unique ability to connect with the spiritual realm and communicate with departed loved ones. This extraordinary gift often leads to misconceptions and skepticism from those who do not fully understand it. Read more>>

Jonathan Slavin

I deliberately chose this topic as a queer person who has been in the entertainment industry for 34 years. So much of my early career was spent being asked to obfuscate my queerness, to gentrify and straighten myself. My representation, the people who were supposed to be working with me and believing in me, would call me or, worse, bring me into the office to discuss the liability that my queerness was to me, and therefore, to them. My first California agent literally said to me “we are concerned that you are just too gay for los Angeles, and should maybe consider moving back to New York”. My longtime(now ex)manager used to send me into auditions telling me “if they get that you’re gay, its over”. Read more>>

Maya Nicole

Immediately, I think of how I’ve always resonated with the feeling of being misunderstood. The idea that the world around me did not receive me in my truth has always felt loud. The kids down the block, adults in my world, and sometimes my family found ways to show they did not understand me. How far will we go to be recognized? I went far and came back with cuts and bruises each time. I went against my inner knowing in hopes that others would see me. The cycle of feeling unseen lead me to loose sight of myself. Rather than accepting everyone wasn’t meant to know me, I continued to suffer. I focused so much on perfecting this image so the world would see how good I was. Being good only gets you so far, especially when the rewards don’t match the efforts. Read more>>