Many student affairs professionals had impactful experiences as undergraduate students, themselves, and they want to facilitate those same opportunities. They believe their work is meaningful to students' experiences and is also valued by institutions. So if that is what motivates many student affairs professionals, what happens when they begin to believe their work doesn't actually matter? Foundationally, the study considered how the field of student affairs has evolved since its inception, with early student affairs documents demonstrating overt differentiation between student affairs professionals and educators, to the present standing by the profession's leading organizations that student affairs professionals are educators alongside their faculty peers. This was a phenomenological study with 12 participants, each completing three interviews. The three interviews focused on getting to know the participants, understanding their professional identities, and understanding what it means for student affairs professionals to be educators. There was a variety of ideas posited by the participants. Ultimately, on a large scale, the study revealed that the participants did deeply identify as educators on an intrinsic level, with the word "educator" meaning much more than simply a job. However, the study also revealed the participants felt unable to fully embrace and express their identities as educators because the "student affairs educator" is often not accepted as an educator, especially among people outside of student affairs.