Roxane Gay is a bestselling author, New York Times contributor, associate English professor at Purdue University and one of the most prolific writers working today. Some of her most popular books include "Bad Feminist," "Difficult Women" and "Hunger." Most recently, she co-authored "World of Wakanda" for Marvel. In an interview with Lifehacker, the successful author and teacher shares the career advice that has kept her on track throughout her professional journey.

"When I was going on the academic job market, worrying about the campus interview, my friend Matt Seigel told me to just be myself because otherwise, if I got hired as the person I was pretending to be, I would have to keep up that pretense for the rest of my career," she says. "He was absolutely right about being myself, for better and worse." In an interview with Rebecca Jarvis for her "No Limits" podcast, Uber's Chief Brand Officer Bozoma Saint John also shared how bringing her truest self to work has been key to her success. But Saint John first had to take some bad advice. Early in her career, she says she was told by a female leader at a former company to not wear red nail polish or red lipstick in the workplace.