I look too young at work, but it's better than trying to seem older

Despite being a professor in my 30s, I've often been mistaken for a student because I look young. Instead of trying to seem older and more mature, I decided to lean into my youthfulness. I learned what mattered was the way I felt and how I taught, not whether I looked the part.

When I went to meet the department chair as a freshly hired adjunct last April, the front-desk staff said, "A student is here to see you." I've been waved toward the student check-in line while judging a business-school competition and asked "What are you studying?" at college events when I'm there to guest speak on personal branding.

People kindly explain things to me as if I'm new to the room until I say what I do, and even then they raise an eyebrow: "Wait … you're a professor?" I did make a few changes when I joined the faculty — just not by trying to look older. I own precisely one oversized black linen blazer I never wear; my energy drops whenever I throw it on, like I've trapped myself in a costume.

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