Summary
Tamara from Longmont, Colorado, shares her story about the intersection of bodily modifications, identity, and cultural expectations in professional environments. As a researcher accustomed to adapting her appearance for different cultural contexts—from wearing a headscarf in East London mosques to adopting a Peruvian accent in Peru—she discusses an incident in Tokyo where she removed her piercings to fit Japanese business norms. She contrasts this with her California casual tech background where piercings were embraced. Despite her sacrifices, she encounters a product manager wearing a nose stud, which prompts her to question authenticity and cultural expectations. With insights from her interpreter, she learns the customer perceives her as the serious business leader, regardless of her piercings. Tamara reflects on how these adaptations are acts of respect, survival, and agency, especially for marginalized groups, and how they lead to continual self-reinvention and humility in navigating identity across cultures.
Key Insights
-
•
Bodily modifications are often strategic adaptations to bridge cultural and professional divides.
-
•
Researchers frequently change their appearance and behavior to gain access and respect in varied cultural contexts.
-
•
Identity is fluid and shaped by context rather than fixed or purely authentic.
-
•
Marginalized groups often modify their bodies and practices for protection and to navigate exclusionary spaces.
-
•
Corporate norms vary widely, as seen between conservative financial firms and casual tech environments.
-
•
Visual markers like piercings can be interpreted differently depending on cultural perspectives and customer perceptions.
-
•
External interpretations of professionalism can undermine personal self-image and agency.
-
•
Adaptations to bodily presentation are not necessarily betrayals of self but acts of respect and survival.
-
•
Collaborating with cultural insiders (e.g., interpreters) provides crucial nuanced understanding in cross-cultural work.
-
•
Continuous bodily and identity adaptations contribute to discovering new versions of oneself over time.
Notable Quotes
"I’ve done the headscarf when recruiting door to door at the mosques of East London."
"I traded my butch boots for kitten heels when interviewing scientists who adhere to biblical beliefs of creationism."
"I’ve literally relearned how to walk."
"It’s probably a good idea to remove the piercings my interpreter confirmed."
"To some people, acts of bodily modification may seem inauthentic, maybe even a betrayal of my unique self."
"Women, people of color, LGBTQ folks, and other minorities are deeply familiar with having to modify bodies and bodily practices as steps for protection and self preservation."
"My heart sank. What the F? Clearly this guy didn’t understand."
"What was important was that in the eyes of the customer, I conveyed the part authentically."
"Whatever image I had attempted to create was always subject to interpretations that I could not control."
"I have learned not to hold on too tightly to the ideas I’ve constructed about myself."
Or choose a question:
More Videos
"If you’re doing research with people with disabilities, consider using the Accessible Usability Scale to get more accurate insights."
Sam ProulxSUS: A System Unusable for Twenty Percent of the Population
December 9, 2021
"In government, the org chart really matters – it influences who talks to whom and who gets to interface."
Michael LandEstablishing Design Operations in Government
February 18, 2021
"VOC wasn’t a replacement for user research, but an enhancer that captured nuggets researchers might miss during discovery."
Shipra KayanHow we Built a VoC (Voice of the Customer) Practice at Upwork from the Ground Up
September 30, 2021
"Careers as ladders are what HR wants, but careers aren’t linear; they should be a jungle gym."
Ian SwinsonDesigning and Driving UX Careers
June 8, 2016
"The persona of a goalkeeper is helping to triage and prioritize strategy and work for the executive."
Isaac HeyveldExpand DesignOps Leadership as a Chief of Staff
September 8, 2022
"Change is messy and it can be uncomfortable, much like baking bread—it’s hard to imagine sticky dough turning into a perfect loaf."
Amy EvansHow to Create Change
September 25, 2024
"Super intelligence is the power to gather and share knowledge consistently to ensure no gaps in communication."
Kate Koch Prateek KalliFlex Your Super Powers: When a Design Ops Team Scales to Power CX
September 30, 2021
"It’s impossible to be angry with a warm cup of tea in your hand."
Dave GrayLiminal Thinking: Sense-making for systems in large organizations
May 14, 2015
"Durable insights can emerge organically based on usage and referencing patterns in the system."
Matt DuignanAtomizing Research: Trend or Trap
March 30, 2020
