I've always looked younger than I am. It's caused challenges at work, but embracing it beats trying to seem older.

At work, I've been mistaken for a student many times. Instead of trying to seem older, I've leaned in to my youth. Julie Zhu Despite being a professor in my 30s, I've often been mistaken for a student because I look young. Although I considered trying to seem older and more mature, I decided to lean into my youthfulness. I learned what mattered was the way I felt and how I taught, not whether I looked the part. When I went to meet the department chair as a freshly hired adjunct last April, ...