No, You’re Not Confusing — You’re Expansive
What happens when you stop explaining yourself and start exploring instead?
What If You’re Allowed to Want More Than One Life?
The one you built. The one you’re circling now. The one you haven’t even imagined yet. ( + A new event announcement at the bottom! )
Range is not a dirty word. I have to remind myself of that a lot.
Somewhere along the way, we were told to pick a lane and stay in It.
To be taken seriously, you had to specialize. Be really good at that one thing, and that one thing only or people won’t know what box to put you in. Know what box your audience can put you in. Niche down. Meld to the shortening of attention spans.
Something easy to categorize and easier to sell.
I almost bought into that. Not blindly, but strategically.
Early in my career, I was praised for being “consistent.” Known for a certain thing, like the no-makeup makeup look with extra dewy skin on set, or the very clear and specific vision when it came to NOTO botanics brand identity.
What once felt like creative freedom — the thrill of building something started to mold into repetition. After a while, you start to do the thing, not because you want to, but because you have to.
Because it was what was expected.
But inside I felt like I was watching my own life from the corner of the room —
And then, without realizing it, I locked myself inside of what I built.
No one tells you that the dream job you build for yourself can become something you may evolve either with or from. Especially when your inner world and exterior interests start shifting.
And when you’re the face of the thing?
You start to wonder if you’re allowed to change at all.
What will people think if you pivot? If you get weird again and pull out your obscure references? If you want to slow down and smell the incense and write about style and personal evolution and identity and make button downs, candles, and planners?
But the truth is: the shift was already happening.
Not all at once. Slowly, and then suddenly.
Like changing your outfit because you’ve leaned into a new aesthetic.
Like remembering that you used to be someone else before all this. And they still have things to say that are unrelated but just as exciting for them.
Lately, I’ve been sitting with the idea of range — not in the what’s on the CV sense, not in the “look how many things I can multi-task” way. But in the soul sense. The private, human, multi-facetted, sometimes uncomfortable truth that we are made up of many selves. That identity doesn’t have to be edited down to fit the algorithm or pitch presentation. To be human NOT binary. Once we can sink into that, life starts to get reallllly interesting. (I think being queer has allowed me to truly celebrate that about myself, and not let the notion that being on a spectrum of pretty much everything is awesome.)
I’m talking about the kind of range that makes you hard to pin down at dinner parties, the kind that doesn’t always photograph neatly — the emotional and aesthetic spectrum of being a person who keeps changing. Who’s meant to keep changing.
And how rare it is to be able to bring it all with you wherever that next thing lands you.
There’s the version of me who once stayed out until sunrise in Margiela tabi’s drinking mezcal inside gay bars, dancing my ass off waking up with a very sore body the next day.
A version who likes to lift heavy weights and Muay Thai, be a bit of a tough guy at the gym.
There’s the version who taught herself how to formulate oils in her kitchen because her skin was freaking out and nothing on the shelf felt like it was made by someone who felt relatable or lived like her or worked.
There’s the version who quietly made art folders on her laptop while pretending to care about growth projections on Zoom.
The version who’s falling in love with writing again. Who still wants to create beautiful things — shirts, candles, playlists, space — but do it differently.
Softer in some ways. Sharper in others. More attuned to what I want to feel like than what I’m supposed to be. Finally taking what I’ve learned and using it.
Range, for me, is finally realizing that none of these selves cancel each other out.
They’re not brand confusion.
They’re the archive. The auto-biography. The proof of self. The layers to a very interesting cake that you put together yourself.
There’s a note I scribbled in the back of my planner the other day — not a to-do, but a reminder. Something I needed to see in my own handwriting (if you haven’t read Stone Butch Blues, please get on It asap):
“Freedom is not a lack of structure but a shift in which structures hold you.”
— Leslie Feinberg
I think we confuse freedom with total abandon, when really it’s about choosing the frame that fits the life we actually want — not the one that makes us the most legible to others. Remember that. You don’t need to be understood, or liked for that matter, by everyone.
So much of what we show the world is about being digestible. Understandable. "On brand."
But I personally never want to be easy to summarize.
I got into a bit of an argument with a family member who I keep at arms length (well, I keep them all at arms length), who seemed to think they knew everything about my life because of social media- when in truth they know nothing of It. Don’t forget, what we show the world is curated, whether we mean to or not. I was reminded then.
So what does range actually look like in practice?
Here’s what it’s been looking like for me lately:
Collaborating with people who inspire me just because we vibe, not because there’s a spreadsheet or strategy behind it.
Letting my morning routine be inconsistent on purpose — because some days call for espresso-fueled ambition, and others for lying on the floor and stretching like a cat.
Letting the rhythm of two cities (LA and Portland) move through me, and noticing how my body, outfits, and even tempo change with each place. And no longer being tied to an identity of living only in LA (Its a trap!)
Rethinking the shape of my creative work: less about launches, more about layers. More about world-building, not deadlines.
Having deeper conversations with people I admire — not interviews, just exchanges. Real ones. Off script.
And that next thing doesn’t have to replace the old thing.
It can exist beside it.
I didn’t stop being the founder of NOTO.
I just stopped thinking that was all I was.
If you’re feeling the tug to shift or expand or reconfigure yourself, here’s what’s been helping me lately — real tools, not just metaphors:
Start a “range” folder. Fill it with images, quotes, screenshots, memories, moods. Not things you’d post—things that feel like yours.
Let your Instagram go weird for a bit. (That’s probably a good sign.) Tap into old inspirations and post those every once in a while - Its nice to look back on.
Revisit your favorite books and read only the margins you wrote in. Or make a playlist of your favorite songs when you were 16-25 years old. That’s where your voice lives.
Say yes to something small that excites you even if it doesn’t “fit” your brand or work identity. (Maybe especially then.)
Dress like the version of you who doesn’t explain themself and be okay if you think you may ask yourself WTF was I thinking in 2 years if you get photographed in It.
And if you want to hear from others who are some others I admire, whose lives and careers are shapeshifting in real time — I’m hosting a panel next week that’s just about that, our very first STUDIO NOTO IRL event:
The Shift: A Panel on Creative Transitions
With Erica Chidi ()and Sissy Chacon ( )
5/16 - Friday
NOTO Flagship
Free — RSVP required : Noto@notobotanics.com
We’ll talk about building new selves without burning the old ones down. About following the spark, even when you don’t have a business plan yet. About the courage and sexiness of starting again.
Because having range isn’t confusing.
It’s evolution.
And you’re allowed to evolve.
Hope to see you IRL! And thank you for being here. Please share if you think someone you know may find this helpful!
-xo
G
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Explore more from my studio:
The Planner by Studio Noto — A tactile roadmap for the life you're shaping.
Things I make to make you feel great — Wearable, burnable pieces of the world I’m building.
Creative Consulting + Direction — Built my own brand. I can help you shape yours.
Find me here too: Instagram @glorianoto and @studionoto.world