For obvious reasons, I do not fit into the standard mold of a mathematician. But over time, I have learned to embrace my identity within the mathematics community and have learned to use this to my advantage. This talk will be a reflection of this unfolding, so naturally it will be an open, frank, and personal lecture. It will feature some striking, and sometimes rather awkward, conversations I have had about race, gender, and social justice within and also outside of academia. Even though a few of these experiences were negative initially, I will share how I eventually gained something very positive out of each of these interactions.

Now due to a certain recent political event, some of us might not feel so optimistic these days and one may think that they are powerless in shaping society as a whole. This is the subject of another talk (by someone better than me!) but here I propose that we "make the problem smaller" as one does typically in math to gain traction on a tough problem. Namely I hope to convince you that every one of us has certain and immediate power in propelling math culture in the positive direction towards diversity, inclusion, and fairness amongst all mathematicians - not just the ones who fit into the standard mold.

*Reception to follow in the Mathematics Atrium Speaker(s): Chelsea Walton (Temple University)