What an elusive question and honestly, I don’t know! I can say that I am 23, a woman, black, a recent graduate, the youngest of 5, the product of divorced parents and being raised by a single mother, and an aspiring entrepreneur but does that really define *me*? I can also say that I am a lofty thinker, strong, assertive, a know-it-all, scared, bold, and honestly so many other things; but will any adjective be adequate enough to describe who *I* am? Is there one all-encompassing term that will resonate with me so, that I can claim it wholeheartedly? I don’t think so. 

In my senior year of college, the first day of the first semester, our professor walked in and proceeded to ask us, “In 3 words or less, describe who you are?” All of our hands shot to the sky like fireworks on the fourth of July, so excited and eager to tell Mr. professor just exactly who we were. The first student introduces himself by stating his name, we’ll call him Eric, and he proclaimed himself to be a student. As soon as the word “student” left Eric’s mouth, Mr. Professor stated, “No, you’re not.” The entire class was confused. Eric questioned, “I’m not?” At that very moment, Eric was unsure of himself. Eric knew he was a student, but someone, who he didn’t know, was challenging him on who he thought he was.  A few other students stated that they were, students, daughters, brothers, aspiring businesspeople, so on and so on. Mr. Professor challenged all of the students and each one was left feeling unsure of themselves.

When we were all done introducing ourselves, incorrectly according to Mr. Professor, he asked how we could affirm so indefinitely who we were. Stating that if we were going to make an assertion, we needed to be confident in that assertion. To add context, the class was mostly people of color. He was trying to get us to understand that in the world, there will always be someone who questions you. Your intentions, character, credentials, any, and everything; and if you allow those some people will cause you to doubt yourself. Those doubts from the outside world don’t help when you are already unsure of who you are. 

I decided to create a blog to, in part, help me rediscover who I am. (is it really a rediscovery if you don’t already know?)  I know what you’re thinking, “why not create a private journal?” When I was thinking about creating a journal, one thought kept replaying over and over in my head, “You can’t be the only one with these thoughts. You can’t be the only one having these experiences.” I wanted to create a public blog because I know that there are other people out there who relate to my thoughts, my experiences, and me. My intention is to have our shared experiences serve as a community of sorts. I wanted to create a public platform so that other people, and more specifically black women, know that we are not alone in this thing we call Life. 

So, who am I? I don’t know, but I welcome you to join me on the journey of self-discovery.