As a medical writer and research ethics specialist, I work to make medical innovations accessible while honoring our commitment to equitable, ethical research. My training is in rhetoric, which I describe as the meeting point of ethics and linguistics, and I am invested in understanding the ways language shapes and is shaped by our experiences and ways of seeing the world. As a former high school dropout and survivor of war on drugs policing that was granted graduate education in critical theory, I gained unique insight into linguistic and social codes that regulate access to professional communities. I try to use my knowledge to demystify those codes and empower those who are still contending with incarceration, recovery, and community re-entry.