is it often time it’s because I’m the
only female in the room or is it because
I’m typically only the black female in
the room there are times that I look and
say can you hear me I matter when I
think about my journey it’s been a very
bittersweet road that I think about all
the things I’ve experienced in both my
personal and academic career it’s
interesting and lean in Sheol Sandberg
said that twenty-one women are CEOs of
corporate organizations and that number
is only 4% of women of color who hold
top corporate jobs I am one of those
statistics women in leadership are vital
for both our organizations and our
communities but if we don’t have that
voice we’ve lost half the world dualism
is shifting is when women of color have
to look at being in two cultures and
have to shift between the two to make
others feel comfortable and what happens
in that particular environment is that
you either feel isolated or diminished
so in my experience I decided to go back
and get my doctorate and I did that it’s
interesting those that I thought that
would support me and help me in that
journey told me that I either wouldn’t
graduate or that I wasn’t committed to
the program at the time I was a single
black mother with two sons so guess what
I didn’t have to try I didn’t have a
choice I had to persevere I had to show
up every single day and show that yes
this matters in lean in again is stated
between 1978 and 2006 households will be
led by women and the proportionate
number will be much higher from 1 to 10
to 1 to 5 and the proportionate number
would be much higher in black families
and Hispanic families and again I had to
make a choice
I had to make sure that I persevered and
it was so important for me to thrive in
that experience although there were
situations where I didn’t feel supported
but I had one professor who told me you
have a voice you can write you’ve got to
stay with it and I did graduate with my
doctorate and in my doctorate studies my
actual dissertation is courage
purging fire women black women who
survived corporate America and the funny
story around that is that they went back
and forth and said oh we need to talk
about success but it wasn’t about
success it was actually about survival
in my study the research also stated
that between 1992 and 2012 the workforce
of black women would raise by 46% and
that is a number way too large for us to
ignore and for two only before percent
that is actually being represented so
when I finished with my undergraduate I
went to work for a corporate
organization I’m so excited
the same experience that I have had
throughout my journey I had a leader who
told me that I would never have a
leadership role and that I had I didn’t
have the capability of being a leader so
what I do I go back to school because
for me it’s always been around the
importance of not an only education but
trying to persevere and that’s the
legacy that my parents taught me so I go
back to school I get my MBA I come out
and I have opportunity to work for
another organization and I had a leader
that poured into me and he told me you
have a voice and you’re not invisible
and I need for you to be bold the other
thing that I didn’t mention is that in
that doctoral program again I had others
that did porn to me through that
timeframe but again I went to another
role I ended up having an individual who
was my peer that I worked for and she
said to me you really aren’t capable of
being a leader
I remember that conversation and I
remember another individual coming to me
who was an amazing mentor and she said
to me you can’t worry about what people
say about yours none of your business
what you actually need to do is use your
voice you have a choice you need to you
need to use your voice and at that
moment what I decided is that I didn’t
want to just survive
I wanted to thrive so the irony of this
is that I have a career in human
resources and human resources to support
we’re supposed to ideally be the
conscious of organizations we’re
supposed to help support individuals
leaders organizations teams to be better
and have an opportunity to make sure and
every individual has a voice they’re not
invisible in that they’re seeing so the
reality is that I actually live my
mantle every day so the research that
was so important to me the things that I
do it was just so clear that that’s
where I need it to be having food that I
also get the same thing all the time
I’ve missed opportunities I’ve been laid
off I’ve missed promotions I’ve had to
fight for equity in my salary as most
women and others have to do but it’s
never deterred me to continue on and to
thrive as I mentioned before I always
tell the story so you know the thing is
the mantle of of what I do my research
my education has been so important to me
so it’s funny I have people that always
want to say so okay how did you get here
what did you do so I always talk about
the story about going back and getting
my MBA and I’m so proud of that because
I went back to historically black
college and university and they’ll say
oh so what what college was it and I
said Clark Atlanta University and
they’ll say to me so where is that which
what that means is that I’m constantly
having to come back and say what is the
reality of the fact that I have to tell
my story and help others statistics say
that
Asian black and Hispanic women host 17%
of corporate jobs in corporate
organizations however fewer than 4% of
those women of color are executives are
in leadership roles the number is still
only 4% so the interesting thing to all
of this is that the gender race voice
phenomena is not a women’s issue it’s
everyone’s issue go back to what I said
about the fact that if we have that
voice that’s not there we’ve lost half
the world I have had amazing
opportunities to lead and be with teams
and the picture that you’re seeing there
is the team that I had the opportunity
to lead and what was so important to me
for everyone on that team was that they
had an opportunity to have a voice but
they didn’t feel diminished and that
they weren’t invisible and it was an
amazing diverse team and to a person
they have moved on to better and amazing
opportunities and they too are providing
a voice to those that also need it so I
say to you you think about the barriers
and they’re there but what’s the answer
so I’ve told you I’ve given you examples
of mentors that poured into me and made
a big difference and it’s not about the
fact that women need women Mentors I
have had all sorts of mentors that have
poured into me and have told me the
importance of my voice and what I can do
and I have fought against every one of
those statistics that have come up and
yet I’m still one of those at four
percent so it’s funny in my role today I
still deal with individuals trying to
diminish me in some sort of way doesn’t
matter that I’m a HR executive they
really don’t care about that and I just
was recently in a meeting with two men
and we were talking and they said well
who’s the decision maker I said well
it’s me they said Oh we’d love for you
to bring in your peer who’s a male to
have a conversation him and can you
schedule that meeting
how to choose to make at that point I
could have said it’s me or nothing
so although I’ve gone through my career
and I think about the advantages that
I’ve had and those people that have
poured to me I also remember the fact
that all of us each one of us are
responsible for ensuring that we’re
moving things along to better than four
percent I have been so blessed in things
that have happened to me in my career
from a standpoint that although I’ve had
people tell me I wouldn’t graduate with
my doctorate I wouldn’t be a leader I
wouldn’t be able to actually lead teens
but I’m here so the important thing
about that is that I am that 4% but I
asked you all to work with me to fight for it to become 46%