Professional

Photo by Parker Galloway

It’s a word I often feel like I am not

Even though I am

It’s strange

I’m allergic to coming off as “professional” as in cold

Unemotional

Logical

Succinct

Kind

Really I much rather think of myself as

A clown or something

Or a wave

Gently lapping

Unobtrusively in the water but you can’t look away

It’s mesmerizing

It’s time I took that descriptor back

Professional

I’ve had former students write about me on Rate Your Professor Dot Com

I’m not

Professional

I tell candid stories about my lived experience and therefore I reveal

Too much

And am not

Professional

So I shouldn’t be

In the workforce leading

Apparently

According to several twenty-two year olds

I always wondered what those kids wanted to see from adults

I got triggered this afternoon

Slightly

When somebody who I could potentially do great work for was describing what he’s looking for from his

Business’s Social Media

And he said

Professional

Is mine

Professional?

I think my character is more professional than anything else about me

And how I try again and again to live my life

That is

Reliable

That is parental in a way

You can trust me

I’ll take good care of you

And everyone I adore

I feel so young sometimes

But I’m 37 which is technically old

But I haven’t lost any of that joy of running around doing what I love

I just have become smart enough to know how to apply that zest to real life professional sales-y hospitality

Experiential

Things

That people want to make money on

But it’s hard to quantify

Influence

Someone big in my opinion who lives in NYC called ME a trendsetter in the DM’s yesterday

ME

In my head, as I read his message, I thought

Wow

Yeah

Yes

Yes!

I know

I see my secret powers everywhere

But I don’t know I’m humbler than that

Yes and no

We are all influencing each other

I’m just conscious of it

And a Professional

Lol

God

I have new very professional looking film camera photos developing RIGHT NOW

With that great young gun photographer I’m always working with on here

I look forward to this owner and investor seeing THOSE

And also what I’m about to do with the cameras I JUST BOUGHT

As if to be ready for THIS VERY MOMENT

It makes me nervous

The idea of finding a brand voice online for somebody else’s property

Again after a three year hiatus from doing that

World building for a place I go to every day?

Nothing is final yet but

It seems so right

Like this was Tennessee Williams’ evil plan all along

He knew he could send me in there, and I would make his dream of what this hotel that he loved could be a reality

People who work there don’t even know that Ten’s real name was Tom

People who were in CHARGE there

Anyway

Having thoughts like these and writing them down and publishing them

That feels unprofessional but it’s professional in this day and age actually

To admit how you really feel

How you

How I see things

I love this place that I’m talking about

It snuck up on me

And I fell for it

And now we’re here

And I’m a little anxious to step back into old waters

Only I’m different

I’m more

Professional maybe??? With everything I’ve sorted out in my own life???

Right?

I played my favorite song as I thought about the events of today and how it all unfolded as if it were written by a master storyteller

Ten

TEN

I can feel your ghost hovering above me and giggling with delight while you sip your ghost Old Fashioned and smoke your ghost cigarette while wearing your ghost cravat

Is it the childlike vividness of my imagination that makes me feel young and un-professional?

As if you have to be dead inside to be old

And an authority

I just want to play and have that lead to sales and more money

And more attendance for everybody who works there alongside me

They ARE the hotel

Not the scenery

Weeks ago, I was drunkenly rambling to one of the bartenders about how if I were running the place, I’d interview every single one of us and world build out of that

And then translate that into the Social Media

And thus

Into the entire Hotel Experience and now

Here we are

The Owner walked by at the perfect moment and I found the courage to share my ideas

Visions I’ve had since March for the future of the place

And then they were actually received

And he was delighted

And then I thought about everything that had to happen in order for that moment to crystalize

And suddenly, it occurred to me

That I am a rich woman in what matters

My mission

The Future of Art in America and all of these small business owners I champion

The vision I had for myself when I interviewed Lauren on The Creole Queen in February of 2025

The Event Horizon has revealed itself

And we are going somewhere tangible

And brand new but

Organic

Honest

Authenticity is my only currency

That and composition

Tension

Storytelling

Color

Style

Contrast

Detail

My Directorial Brain

That’s what I have to offer

Originality not

The emulation of something somewhere else far from us but visible online as if it’s visible from space

I am ready to take on this challenge

And the fear in my chest is because

This is scary and worth doing

The new version of me lies on the other side

Of playing around

Of handling other people’s opinions

Of all of the obstacles any Social Media Company Owner might face

What’s a little more chaos in New Orleans

Another Tuesday

They’re not asking me to do something I don’t know how to do

I am already professional

There’s no need to justify

I know who I am

I’ve known this entire time

It’s the Front Desk Agent that’s been the costume