I'm sat in my favourite Kemptown cafe, watching the morning crowd drift past, and I'm thinking about how people see me. Not just clients. Everyone.
The queer scene in Brighton is wild and fluid. We don't do neat boxes. But clients? They love boxes. They walk in with these pre-written narratives about who I am, what I represent. Sometimes it's hilarious, sometimes it's exhausting.
Most assume I'm exclusively feminine because I do some femme work. They don't get that my gender and my sexuality slide around like the tide. Some days I'm soft and curved, other days I'm sharp edges and swagger. My work reflects that. I don't need to explain or justify.
The best clients are the ones who listen. Who see me as a whole person. Not a fantasy, not a checklist. Just me. Complicated, Brighton-born, queer as fuck.
Assumptions are boring. My reality is far more interesting.