Jessica: Computer Science & Research

• I have had people looking for "Dr. Jones" to walk right past me...the only person standing in the room. 

• There have also been those who were visibly shocked that "Jessica Jones," as a person they had never met, was me, this Black girl with a big fro. 

• Or the time someone told me they had research older than me. 

• Or when I'm "Jessica" but someone else is "Dr." 

• There was also the time when a professor told me I could build an app to calculate how much money I could spend on makeup and shoes...I don't even wear makeup and heels like that.
  
  Was it because I'm Black? A woman? Because I have natural hair? Who knows. But, I know the responses would've been different if I wasn't me. If I didn't look like this. What I won't do though is hide or shrink myself. I won't sit all the way in the back. I will insist that you use my title in formal settings. I will rock my locs proudly and not consider what others may think. In an effort to not be seen as sensitive and defensive, I let a lot of things go, didn't want to rock the boat. Not today. 

  Not in 2021. 

  That's dead. 

  Now, has this all been easy? Heck no. But, I deserve it.