"Carry yourself with the confidence of a mediocre white man. I'm a queer woman, and it can be intimidating to sit in a room and get that feeling in the pit of your stomach when you realize you're the only woman in the room. It's lonely when you start a new job and aren't sure whether it's safe/advisable to be out in the workplace. I've seen so many dudes with huge egos who just think they're the shit, and honestly, that gets you pretty far. I've been trying to not mitigate my knowledge and experience recently — for example, I try not to preface an idea with "I'm not sure this is right" or "Correct me if I'm wrong, but..." — and that's actually gotten me pretty far. As for being out, I'm in a place of relative privilege right now, and I think being unapologetically myself would hopefully do a little for the general visibility and acceptance of the queer community."