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I originally posted this on IG because the puzzle community is there. But there may be some folks here that need to hear this. I regret not sharing this here on Instagram at the time it happened. Either we could have avoided future incidents or knew exactly where we stood with each other. After the influencer panel at Nationals 2024, I was talking to two women. One of them said, "You speak so well. You're so articulate." Later in the convention I was invited to be interviewed on the live broadcast. Again, while making my way through the crowd, "You're so articulate. You speak so well." When a White person tells a Black person something like this, we wonder how you expected us to speak. Especially when you didn't say the same things to the other speakers who were well spoken. It's offensive. And to the friends of people who say these things, you can make them aware of this the first time. The same two women stopped me again after the live broadcast interview and guess what, she repeated herself. I bring this up now because of the way I was just approached in my DMs here. I want to assume they don't know better, but folks make it hard when you talk to a grown woman like you're speaking to a child. It's like I can see the finger pointing in my face. It's disrespectful. It is awkward being the only Black in the room. I am aware of everything that happens around me. Because of this I don't jump to conclusions. I have never said any of these people were racist. I've shared this on my livestream and in my Discord many times when we talked about the lack of diversity in puzzle images or never getting a single sponsorship opportunity to this day from a puzzle company as an overly qualified Black woman. I hope this helps those of you who care about equality, and community, and humanity, and just didn't know the weight of your words. If you're not sure about something, it's okay to be quiet.