TED Talk Thursday: Morgana Bailey on the Danger of Hiding Who You Are

It takes self-awareness to know who you are. It takes confidence, commitment and unbounded bravery to exist as that person every day. Human resources professional Morgana Bailey knows this struggle all too well; after 16 years spent stifling her true self, she is finally living as the person who she wants to be.

After living as an unapologetically unique extrovert in her home city of Kansas, Bailey spent a semester abroad in London and began to withdraw from her peers and shutter her true self. Brushing off the change as “maturing,” Baily dialed down her quirky clothes and outspoken demeanor in favor of “conforming and hiding.”

Believing that conformity would drive her toward her long-term career goals, Baily continued to create a façade in her work and personal lives. Bailey realized that after working in human resources and witnessing the detriment of her secrecy that is was time to embrace the person she truly was. Choosing to reveal her true self in the city that spurred nearly two decades of denial, Bailey revealed that she is a lesbian. Her journey toward self-acceptance addresses the nature of the ways in which we present ourselves in the workplace and beyond.