Conversations with Roderick Erby

Today we’d like to introduce you to Roderick Erby.

Hi Roderick, it’s an honor to have you on the platform. Thanks for taking the time to share your story with us – to start maybe you can share some of your backstory with our readers?
Growing up in a small Mississippi town as a Black queer man taught me how to be aware of everything. My surroundings, how people move, what feels safe and what doesn’t. I learned how to adjust, how to protect myself, and how to exist in ways that made things easier to navigate.

Living in Memphis, Chicago, and now Atlanta added new layers to that understanding. Each place challenged me in different ways and expanded how I see myself and the world. They gave me space to explore who I am more fully and to step into that with more confidence over time, including what it means for me to move through the world as a Black queer man.

I have my undergrad degree in Business Information Systems and an MBA in Project Management, and I built a successful career in tech within corporate America. That part of my life has given me structure and a foundation, but it is only one part of me.

I was recognized as a Memphis Flyer Top 20 Under 30 and received the Reveille 25 Young Alumni Award from my alma mater. Those moments meant a lot, but they didn’t fully reflect who I was becoming. They did reinforce that there was something about me people were drawn to, even if I hadn’t fully defined it yet.

Therapy became a turning point for me. It helped me separate who I actually am from the version of myself I built to get through certain environments. It also gave me the language to understand my experiences more deeply and to begin expressing them in a way that felt honest.

At the core of everything I do is mental health, especially within the Black queer community. There are still a lot of misconceptions around mental health, and it’s not talked about nearly enough for how much it impacts our everyday lives. Being Black and queer adds layers to your lived experience that can have a direct impact on your mental health, and those realities are often overlooked. My goal is to remove that barrier. I approach this work from both lived experience and a need to understand it deeply, and I want to create something that resonates in a real way. Through different mediums, whether it’s audio, writing, or visual content, I want the message to reach people in whatever way connects with them.

A lot of what I create is about helping someone else feel seen, but it’s also about helping people put language to things they may not have been able to name before. At the same time, it allows me to go deeper into who I am, how I think, and how I want to express myself creatively. All of this is part of a larger vision I’m continuing to build through There’s Been Growth.

When I turned 30, I created There’s Been Growth: A Capsule Podcast. It exists as a snapshot of where I was at that point in my life. My thoughts, my questions, and what I was learning about mental health and myself in real time. It was never meant to be ongoing. It reflects that version of me.

More recently, I created Rod: in progress on Substack. That space allows me to go deeper and be more expansive in how I explore growth, creativity, and identity. Some of the same themes show up, but with more clarity and intention. It reflects where I am now, which is still very much in process.

Modeling is becoming another lane for me that I’m stepping into more intentionally. It challenges me to be seen in a way I had spent most of my life avoiding. It’s building my confidence and allowing me to step into parts of myself I had kept small.

I’m not presenting a finished version of myself. I’m building in real time. In a lot of ways, it feels like I’m doing the things a younger version of me never thought were possible.

I’ve given myself permission to take up as much space as I want. Every step I’ve taken has brought me closer to claiming my place in the world. I have a clear message, a unique perspective, and a strong voice, and I’m excited for where I am headed because I know I am just getting started.

We all face challenges, but looking back would you describe it as a relatively smooth road?
It hasn’t been a smooth road, but I don’t think it was supposed to be.

A lot of my early experiences were shaped by learning how to navigate spaces that didn’t always feel built for me. Growing up as a Black queer man in a small Mississippi town came with a constant awareness of how I was perceived and what felt safe to express. That doesn’t just go away when you leave. It shows up in how you move, how you communicate, and how much of yourself you allow people to see.

As I got older, the challenges became more internal. I’ve experienced unemployment, heartbreak, burnout, moments where my sense of self had to be rebuilt, and periods of intense mental instability. None of those things were easy to move through, but they gave me a level of perspective and depth that I carry into everything I create now. They gave me something real to speak from.

There’s also been a lot of uncertainty in figuring myself out creatively. Learning to trust my voice, feeling like I have permission to create, and not waiting for validation has been a process. Even doing this article, I’ve had to push past moments of imposter syndrome and questioning whether this is the right time or if I have enough to share. That feeling still comes up, but I’ve learned to move forward anyway.

I’m still very much in an experimental phase, and I might always be. But I’ve come to see that as a strength rather than something to fix. It keeps me open, honest, and connected to what I’m actually experiencing.

I think the biggest shift for me has been understanding that taking up space isn’t something you wait to be ready for. It’s something you choose, even when you’re still figuring it out.

Can you tell our readers more about what you do and what you think sets you apart from others?
My work centers around mental health, identity, and self-awareness, with a focus on the Black queer community.

I explore that through different mediums such as Rod: in progress on Substack, There’s Been Growth: A Capsule Podcast, and content creation across social platforms. Each one allows me to express something different, but they all connect back to the same core idea. I’m interested in how people understand themselves and how we make sense of our experiences.

What I’m known for, or what people tend to connect with, is my ability to say things in a way that feels clear and honest. I’m direct, but still intentional. I don’t try to dress things up, and I don’t simplify them to the point where they lose meaning.

What also sets me apart is my willingness to share and be vulnerable. I don’t hold back from speaking on my experiences, even when they’re uncomfortable, and I think that’s what allows people to connect to the work in a real way. My life experiences have shaped how I see the world, and they allow me to offer perspective that can help people feel seen, or even recognize something before they reach a point they didn’t see coming.

What I’m most proud of is building something that feels true to me. Not perfect, not complete, but honest.

Can you tell us more about what you were like growing up?
Growing up, I was observant, inquisitive, and outspoken. I paid attention to everything. How people interacted, what was said and what wasn’t, how energy shifted in different spaces.

I was also curious about everything. I remember keeping a notebook where I would collect random facts just so I could share them with people. I wanted to know as much as I could. If I didn’t agree with something on a test or assignment, I wouldn’t hesitate to write a note explaining why. I was a nerd through and through, and school came easy to me.

At the same time, I often found myself shrinking to try to fit in. But I never really did. No matter how much I tried to adjust, my true self always showed through in some way.

I also went through my own “ugly duckling” phase. I was tall, lanky, and a bit chunky at the same time, and that had an effect on my confidence and how I showed up growing up. It made me more aware of how I was perceived and more cautious about how I expressed myself, which only added to the ways I was already navigating the world.

Even though I was often picked on, I never wanted that for anyone else. I would step in when I could and try to protect others, and that’s something that has stayed with me. I’ve always had a bit of a “bully’s bully” mentality.

I always had an idea of who I was. I just didn’t always feel like I had the space to fully be it.

Contact Info:

• Website: https://linktr.ee/roderb
• Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/roderb
• Other: https://open.substack.com/pub/roderb