By Anneliese Sullivan, Copywriter at The Brand Agency

If self-promoting means standing out — standing above the rest, surely the most different among us should rise to the top.

But for those with diverse genders, sexualities, ethnicities and abilities (and all its intersections), standing out has never been that simple.

I asked a diverse group of people working in comms across Australia about their relationship with self-promotion in the context of a diverse identity. Here’s what they had to say.

Self-promotion doesn’t exist in isolation. The audience plays as crucial a role as the promoter.

And when the power to reward self-promotion in the workplace sits in the hands of what’s usually a pretty homogenous group of individuals, points of difference usually pose more problems than they do opportunities.

Promotions and other rewards in the workplace are said to be merit-based, but it’s important to question who is making that value judgement. The status quo often prevails.

I’ve never had a problem with self-promotion, thanks to a healthy dose of parental encouragement and support.

And as a (mostly) straight-presenting cis woman, I’ve been able to put my queer identity to the side when it comes to furthering my career.

But now I’m in a role where my identity is inherently linked to my work.

In some ways it empowers me; I have a relatively unique, ‘money can’t buy’ expertise. But in other ways, I feel exposed, vulnerable and struggle to separate self from work as I’m often overly emotionally invested.

As a non-binary person, I do feel like I have to take up more space and be louder than my male peers to get heard. It means a day at work for me is probably doubly as taxing as someone who doesn’t constantly think about how they present themselves.

If I’m not loud and challenging people in my job, I get pushed to the side while others progress in their careers.

It’s now pretty known at my agency that I say it like it is — but why shouldn’t everyone? At least I stick in people’s minds.

I’ve found it’s been difficult to establish a mentor-mentee relationship with my superiors who don’t see themselves in me, and I in them.

A relationship that sees people who are like their bosses get ahead.

Not out of explicit discrimination or malice, but rather an implicit human bias that favours similarity.

It was always clear that there was a point of difference between myself and either my teachers or superiors at work. There was never really a level for us to quite connect on – a lack of similarities beyond the immediate context.

I work towards emphasising the differences instead – bringing attention to it, embracing my differences or my culture. It can often be an advantage.

A different perspective. I’ve always lived in multi-cultural societies (Middle East and Australia) so it may be a behaviour that I inherently assumed I had to adopt.

I’ve witnessed outspoken, opinionated and highly talented women in workplaces go unnoticed, criticised or left on an island unto themselves when they engage in similar self-promotion behaviours [to me, a male].

I’ve found my role in those cases is to do what I can with my own privilege to position and amplify the voice of that person in the workplace, while also nipping in the bud water-cooler talk that seeks to frame their uppity-ness and valuable self-promotion as selfish.

I think I’m a pretty big and shameless self-promoter, especially on ye olde LinkedIn…and in some ways I think I’ve traded off

a) male and white privilege, but also

b) the outspoken gay stereotype who has a reasonably loud opinion about things.

In some ways being a white gay male has probably amplified my voice of self-promotion.

It’s added this tint of diversity to my personal brand that leaders like because it appeals to their metrics and own desire to appear diverse and inclusive.

The same can’t be said for other diverse identities and minorities.

And finally, I leave you with the response of one person, who replied in three wonderful haikus. Thank you to all contributors for their invaluable input and perspectives.