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.

Emma Barnafo

I was always the outsider. It wasn’t that I didn’t have friends… I did, but I never truly felt like I belonged with them. You see, I’ve always been socially awkward, and honestly, not much has changed. Read more>>

Suman Mangu

Being an Artist of Indian origin, I have faced a lot of criticism and being mischaracterized. Any career that comes under self employment is hard to explain to people. Read more>>

Celeste Marie Wilson

When I began my songwriting journey, I had a lot of people say some pretty nasty things. They still do. Mainly it’s “she’s not good enough”, but it can range from calling me “petty”, “mediocre”, “ungodly”, “stupid”, “untalented”, “ugly” and some other terms I prefer not to say. Read more>>

Anders Hvass

The mission statement of the band Wildr is to create music and go on stage with vigor – to reclaim the live scene to be more than backtrack and pre-designed performances. Read more>>

Lisa Motorina

Being an immigrant and pursuing the artist career in America is probably one of the hardest journeys one can take on. Despite all the talks about the “American dream” a lot of times it turns out you have to fit in to actually be accepted to pursue that “dream”. Read more>>

Effraim Aloni

I’d like this question to be something along the lines of this: “As we chat about your recent brand evolution, I’m curious – what sparked the decision to rebrand, and can you unravel the meaning and story behind the new name, offering a glimpse into the soul of your refreshed identity?” Read more>>

Blaine Counter

I remember being a kid and feeling misunderstood. I was this pale, lanky, mixed race teenager with shaggy natural dread locks who liked to draw and play guitar, I was two years younger than all of my friends because I had skipped a grade and my birthday was later in the year, and I had no idea where my life was going. Read more>>

Nadia Burgess

I’m an artist of color and because of that a lot of times I get put into a box by other people of color, particularly Black people. And that might be a controversial thing to say but for me it’s true. Read more>>

Melissa Hefferlin

Almost fifteen years ago my artist husband and I began spending half our time in a small town in southern Spain. It has been a rewarding and inspiring regime, which has fed my art practice in a hundred ways. Read more>>