What makes someone a pro in 2025

Lately, I've been thinking a lot about how being a professional is perceived in modern times. Once upon a time a professional was associated with a prim and proper appearance, perhaps a suit and a homogeneous on-the-serious-side personality.

Following a spat of interest in my work and a seemingly complimentary recurring comment "your work looks so professional"...it dawned on me that for one reason or another there seems to be a occasional narrative that despite appearing as professional, there is some doubt in people's mind that in fact, the work that I produce somehow appears professional but for one reason or another is perhaps not...

I first wanted to delve into the facts - what in fact IS a professional? The definition of a professional is 'a person competent or skilled in a particular activity' or

'a person engaged or qualified in a profession'.

Following graduating a first class degree in Jewellery design, 15 years of practice, two iterations of my brand and over 6 years in business, one would generally expect on paper for this to equate to a person deserved of professional 'status'.

So why does there appear to be an occasional perception by some of the people closest to me that everything I have achieved and spent much of my adult life persuing, perfecting and practicing is in fact not worthy of a 'proffesional' title. Perhaps it all comes back to what people think success looks like!

As an individual, I pride myself on not being uptight and it's important to me that other people are comfortable around me. So perhaps not always fully owning all my achievements is the blame for this recurring perception... So perhaps the answer is fact to take up more space...

In conversation with my partner on the subject, he pointed out something that hadn't actually occurred to me - Would the perception be the same if I were a man? Perhaps there is something in this, would a man with my credentials and experience perhaps be taken that more seriously as a professional?

I'd like to take some ownership too of this occasional retoric that reappears in my life as, I don't adhere to or follow the traditional 'rules' of professionalism in terms of how I appear in real life and you won't catch me acting as if I'm better than the next person. I think it could be helpful for us to move with the times and see that there has been a shift in what an individual with professional status can look like.

Ultimately for me, as long as a person has credentials and experience, we ought to be taking their choices seriously. A professional does not even need to be limited by a lack of training because ultimately there are plenty of amazingly talented designers and makers who are fully self taught yet despite this, their years of experience in the field and in business will by rights make them a professional.

I don't actually take offense at being perceived in a certain way because I understand that any lack in being perceived in many cases is simply a reflection of an individuals personally imposed limitations. I'm all for being misunderstood, I can appreciate that people may be stuck in the past with their ideas about how professionalism appears, it's so easy to do! What's interesting to me is taking someone's worth on face value yes, and when applicable also taking into consideration someone's credentials and experience.

Ultimately my whole vibe is that of leaning into a loosening and undoing... This does no mean that there is compromise in my high making standards, no. It simply means that there is a very human element in everything that I do and create. I can see how this may not always be synonymous with a traditional professional but for me, life's to short to be pretending to be something that we're not. I feel that this approach will become more prevalent and regarded as we move further in the tech age.

I'm actually really excited for the next generation of designers and makers because the world is at our finger tips and even someone who is self taught can create empires for themselves. It's an exciting time to be alive and I'm sure the definition of professional will only morph and evolve as the years go by, especially with the ushering of AI. But that's a whole other blog...