If you want to survive in godless industries like journalism and publishing, you have to learn how to navigate its politics just as much as work on your craft, especially if you’re Black. We all need someone to teach us the business, to mentor us, to guide us, to call us in.

I honestly believe that—and having a safety net—make the difference between a five-year career, a 10-year career, and a 25-year career. Who is willing to speak your name in rooms you haven’t stepped in yet? Who is willing to recommend you for opportunities? Who backs you?

If you alienate every person who could help clear the brush on your behalf, teach you the business, and hold you accountable when you slip up, then one day you will find yourself on an island alone with every bridge burned.

I’ve seen it happen to the most talented people, and no matter how much others tried to lift them up and usher them into new opportunities, they were considered radioactive (by gatekeepers) and treated as such. I’ve wanted to change that about this industry for a long time.

I say all this to say: Do good work. Mind your business. Stay out of mess—online and offline. Build good relationships. Get mentors who will call you in. Handle as many private things as privately as possible. Have firm emotional and mental boundaries. Stand on your word.

I’ve had it out with writers and editors in every way imaginable. Those conflicts never make it to social media...because, for me—FOR ME—social media is not the place to air out professional conflicts, unless legitimate harm has been done and this is the best recourse.