I didn’t know how much I was performing until I stopped.

Fifteen years in marketing and design, wearing masks I didn’t even realize I had on…and it took walking into a professional kitchen for the first time to shake them loose.

The kitchen didn’t care what I looked like or how I presented. My chefs & line crew only cared if I could move, if I could face the pressure, if I could taste, if I could feel the heat of a pan and respond before the food suffered.

It was the most myself I had felt in years.

The Why is up today…on the cost of performing and the freedom of finally being real.