Author: Mara Ellison
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Why I Felt More Judged After the Workplace Became More Accepting
I expected acceptance to feel like relief. Instead, it felt like a spotlight that made my imperfections more visible. I never thought that acceptance could feel heavy. Long before I noticed the shift in…
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Why I Stopped Asking Questions in Team Discussions
At some point, asking questions stopped feeling like participation and started feeling like risk. I used to ask questions without thinking much about it. Not provocative ones. Not rhetorical ones. Just the kind that…
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What Happens When Diversity Feels Performative
Diversity that feels performative doesn’t make you feel seen — it makes you feel watched. I didn’t always think about diversity in terms of how it *felt.* For a long time, it was a…
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What It Feels Like to Be Quiet in a Loud Work Culture
I wasn’t disengaged—I was just less visible in a culture that equated presence with noise. I’ve always been quieter at work. Not withdrawn, not disinterested—just more internal. I listen first. I think before I…
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Why I Stay Quiet During Company Town Halls
Town halls are meant to be open spaces for dialogue, but somewhere along the way they began to feel like an arena I wasn’t sure how to navigate. Early on in my career, company-wide…
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Why I Felt Left Out After Opting Out of Culture Committees
It was framed as optional, but opting out didn’t feel neutral once I actually did it. When culture committees were first introduced, they were described as an opportunity. A way to shape the workplace.…
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How the Push for Authenticity Made Me More Guarded
When authenticity became a workplace expectation instead of a personal choice, I started paying closer attention to what felt safe to show. There was a time when I didn’t think much about how much…
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How Workplaces Quietly Expect You to Have the Same Beliefs
It wasn’t about being told what to think. It was about learning what not to question. I didn’t notice the expectation right away. At first, work just felt like work—projects, deadlines, meetings that blurred…
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What It’s Like Being Expected to Have a Personal Brand at Work
Somewhere between feedback cycles and social posts, I realized that the invitation to be myself at work came with an asterisk: as long as that self could be “branded.” When the phrase “personal brand”…
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Why I’m Tired of Pretending to Care About Company Morale
At some point, morale stopped feeling like a shared mood and started feeling like another expectation I had to manage. I remember when the word morale first entered my work life in a serious…