Hey Reader,

After a lovely train ride along the coast of the Pacific Ocean, my niece picked me up in San Diego last weekend.

Her boyfriend was in the car. In front of him, she turned around and asked: "Did you work on The Last of Us TV series?"

She was glowing; a big smile, wide eyes, expectant, and also knowing the answer. I said yeah, I did.

She lit up even more. She wanted to know more -- what it was like, what I actually do. And I watched her explain Audio Description to her boyfriend.

Yet, here's what almost happened instead, cause it's happened before: I nearly deflected. Made it smaller. "Yeah, a little work on that." And moved on to ask about them and their work (which I always do. Good kids!).

I've been doing a version of that smaller-ing for a long time; it makes the conversation easier to move past me. And sure I explain the concept, but don't necessarily credit the work. I talk around what I've done instead of standing inside it.

Some of that is NDA. Some of it is the culture of this field. We've been trained to be invisible (not in the way I like to write about invisibility), and a lot of us got very good at doing the work, and leaving it at that.

But the other kind of invisibility prevents these connection conversations like with my niece.

My niece didn't need an explanation. She already knew. She just wanted me to confirm it.

So I did.

I'm working on doing that more.

I'm on panels at Comic-Con International again this summer, including one I'm producing. And I'll soon share some series and features coming out this summer.

And I've been asking anyone with AD credits to share them, too. The work you've done deserves to be findable.

If you haven't added yours yet, theADNA.org/submit-credits is the place. You can see others' AD credits for film and tv here -- and if you've not joined yet, and have AD credits for tv shows or streamers, The Television Academy accepts ADNA credits toward membership eligibility.

If your career side is where you feel challenges on how you talk about what you do, where you actually fit, what your next real steps are, I'm building something for this summer. Small group. Craft inside the booth, and how you carry it outside of it.

If what I described sounds good, it might be the right room. Details coming soon. Let me know you're interested.

My niece's smile stays with me. It feels less like "hey, look how cool of an uncle I am," and more like a shared smile. Something that opens a door, naturally, and with some humility. That's the room I want to build.

Roy

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