For the first time in my life, I have been able to find a lot of success with my art, whether that be in selling art, showing art, or just general interest in my art.

I feel like for so long I did the art that I thought society wanted from me. I was creating things that had been so regurgitated and over done. There was nothing new, creative, or interesting about what I was bringing to the table.

In an interview Billy Porter spoke about similar failures when he was pursuing an R&B career as a straight presenting male in the 90s. He said "I failed as somebody else. Ultimately, I failed at doing something that everybody else was telling me to do or that I should do. And ultimately, it wasn't me. It didn't have anything to do with me. It had everything to do with somebody's idea of what I should be."

All these things that I felt I shouldn't be drawing, those are the things that make my art unique and make me who I am as an artist. I had to be willing to set aside my internalized homophobia; I had to be willing to not worry so much if what I was creating would offend straight people; I had to be willing to make myself uncomfortable to find actual success in my art.