“Tell me, what is it you plan to do with your one wild and precious life?”
I live and breathe every day at the intersection of black, female, and extremely tall. I’m literally every single inch of 6’4. My height impacts all layers of my life, from my clothing to my health, to my vehicle size preferences, to playing certain sports, to dating, to picking seats on an airplane, to my confidence, to getting comments and stares everywhere I go — it is not easy. This world just was not built for me as a woman in the 99th height percentile. As a tall girl I have often felt a sense of “otherness” because I just never fit in. Growing up as an adolescent tears would fall into my pillow at night because I was teased harshly in school for being so tall. Fortunately, I eventually learned to embrace my height — I accepted that I was born to stand out.
Living in this body has conditioned me to be comfortable as an outlier. I have empathy, compassion, and grace for those who do not conform to society's “standards.” For those in this world who do not fit in the boundaries of “normal” or who may not be accepted for just being themselves, I get it. This partly fuels my passion to help people who are discriminated against and who have had to engage in battle for basic human rights. I walk with my head high, embrace every crevice of my identity, uplift the marginalized, and fight for those who are consistently overlooked in the minority.
— Camille McGirt