With a ‘performance outlook’ on life, she constantly navigates through unfamiliar spaces and interacts with new social circles and cultures. Zak means that her identity is expressive whereter it is onstage or not and with it follows a constant level of awareness, especially having layered identities. It is a matter of safe space and the people who inhabit those spaces. Describing that it is a form of masking, which is a defensive response to adjust or camouflage aspects of one's personality, often happening unconsciously when experiencing an unfamiliar social situation. For Zak this could be adjusting speech, as it sometimes fluctuates with African twang. In contrast, witnessing her drum in the freedom of a safe space embracing the merging of music and identity, it is a contagious empowering experience.