"I'm a competition dancer." That's been my go-to fun fact since 4th grade.

What I typically choose not to share is that I spent my early years of high school comparing myself to other dancers. They were winning awards, and I was stuck in the back of the convention ballroom. To reclaim my love for dance, I created a passion project, a video series called Identity in Motion, in which I explored the way that movement connects to identity and behavior. By combining dance with concepts like social comparison and growth mindset, what started as a creative outlet became something that shaped how I think about leadership and self-perception.

Identity in Motion taught me that growth is something I can create for myself rather than wait to receive.

I stopped measuring my progress against other dancers and began letting myself be inspired by them, learning to evaluate myself on my willingness to explore and improve. This project reframed my mindset around social comparison to focus on opportunities rather than shortcomings.