maverick
MAV-er-iknounMeaning an independent person who does not go along with the group
Memory hook the CALF that goes its OWN WAY. Every cow in the herd plods toward the barn, but one young calf trots off the other way to explore the hill; it is a maverick.
A maverick among bakers, Nell puts pickles in her chocolate cake.
In context While every other architect was designing glass towers, Ada was a maverick, building homes of mud brick and straw that stayed cool without air conditioning.
Similar nonconformist, individualist, free spirit, rebel
Opposite conformist, follower
From the name of a Texas rancher of the 1800s who did not brand his calves; an unbranded calf came to be called a maverick.