Some of you understandably noticed in my other video that I sound like this, but I want to make something clear.

Some of you understandably noticed in my other video that I sound like this, but I want to make something clear. Onye n'eja ka m bu, ma su Igbo, I'm Igbo. I'm Igbo to my core. And even though I sound like this, I actually don't sound like this when I'm talking to other Africans and other people with accents. I started suppressing my accent, and I actually learned English from Hannah Montana, thank you Miley. But I started suppressing my accent after moving to suburban Michigan, like I shared in my last video, because people would literally say, "Huh? What are you saying?" They didn't understand me. They made fun of it, and I felt like it was yet another way that I stood out in a group where I was already one of maybe four Black people in my class. And so I changed my accent to fit in more. I've noticed that I perform better in the eyes of Americans when I sound like this. Job interviews are easier and things like that. And so over time, I've just started to talk like this. But when I'm around my Nigerian and my African friends, my accent comes out. I speak my native tongue. And it's kind of a code-switching that I suppose I now do that has helped me assimilate more into America. I'm still unpacking how I feel about it because I made this decision when I was 14. I wasn't exactly, you know, my brain had not fully developed at that point. And now I find it really difficult, actually, to extract myself from this accent or separate myself from this accent when I'm not talking to other Nigerians or other Africans. I don't know if other people have had similar experiences, but I am curious to hear more what people have to say. I just don't want anyone to think that I'm not the Igbo and Nigerian woman that I am, because I am.