August 13 marks Black Women’s Equal Pay Day. This is not a celebration. Instead, it represents the date that Black women must work into the new year to catch up to what White non-Hispanic men made at the end of the previous year. That’s an extra 226 days of work for Black women, who make just 62 cents for every dollar earned by non-Hispanic White men. This translates to corporate leaders attributing Black women’s worth as roughly three-fifths of the value of White men. This pay gap has a devastating impact. It means
Put your money in funds that invest in Black-owned startups Unrest in the streets has made its way to Wall Street. JPMorgan CEO Jamie Dimon was photographed kneeling in solidarity with protestors; Morgan Stanley promoted two Black women to high-profile roles; and Citi, Bank of America and Goldman Sachs published inspiring anti-racist messages and pledges. Many financial firms announced donations to the NAACP or similar organizations. These are all commendable efforts, but they won’t address the root causes of structural racism in finance. In fact, in the absence of deeper solutions,
Today was a not so good day at work. I’ve had better days. The issue itself isn’t even regarding my day-to-day work with clients or my immediate team. The issue is regarding how one of the largest technology companies in the world fails to understand and account for my personal living situation, during COVID-19. But that’s a whole different story, for another time. Regardless, it’s moments like this that remind me why it’s so important — more now than ever — to share our stories and our experiences with the
My name is Alicia, and I’m an Inclusion and Diversity practitioner for a technology services company. A little about me for context, I’m a Black Latina from small-town Iowa. After making my way through University [first gen], I landed in Denver, trying to find a way to tie the content I care about [diversity, equity, and inclusion] to my professional career. I’ve worked in marketing and now support the technology sector through workforce management. After 28 years on this earth filled with teaching moments [five in corporate America], I’m here
Over the last two weeks, Black people globally have had to revisit the emotions that erupt when we consider how we are treated in society. We are currently juggling collective trauma while navigating our way through what we hope is a lasting revolution. There is little that can describe the universal, unanimous outcry of pain and grief that we are experiencing together. No, what the Black community is experiencing this week is not new. The grief, the pain, the anger, the cry for a mindset and systemic change – none
From the day I realized I was destined to be a coder, I knew I was going to be an underrepresented group in more ways than one. It started to hit me in the few classes I took throughout grade school, but I didn’t realize how much of a minority I was until college. I’m lucky that for the most part, I have been able to fit in with my other software engineering peers. But there is still a lot that I have realized about being the only woman of
“Big data” is the biggest buzzword on Wall Street. Watches, phones, and even refrigerators are capturing data about the world around them, and businesses everywhere are learning how to process and make sense of this massive amount of information. People don’t naturally develop insights from spreadsheets and data tables, so Chantilly Jaggernauth is using the newest visualization tools to allow even users with the most basic computer skills to understand data. Chantilly’s STEM journey started when she attended a health science and engineering high school. As a naturally gifted artist,
As a naturally curious and confident person, Linda Kamau is no stranger to trailblazing. There were four paths in her all-girls school, and computer science was usually the path least chosen. But for Linda, computers were a passion, and she happily chose computer science to the surprise of her peers. She also had a natural interest in making things better, a talent encouraged by her older brother with whom she would spend time around the house repairing everything from radios to the roof. At many African universities, it is extremely
In college, I interned with a local health insurance company. When I was getting ready to complete my internship, a professional mentor of mine, who also happened to be another Woman of Color, offered me some advice on how to succeed in “corporate America.” She told me, “You need to get rid of your natural hair to survive.” It was the mid-2000’s, during a period of time when Black women were reconnecting to their roots and cutting off their chemically processed (and highly damaged) hair. It was a moment of
Women founders of color deserve recognition — and money. It’s time to replace the window-dressing with real representation. On International Women’s Day, we should focus on the numbers and the right numbers. International Women’s Day (#IWD2020) was designed to celebrate the social, economic, cultural and political achievements of all women — while also marking a call to action for accelerating gender equality. So instead of letting this day pass as yet another PR opportunity to highlight a company or firm’s gender diversity with one specific racial background, let’s take a
