I work for a woman-owned company, where there are NO Black high-level managers and it is so disheartening.

11 Comments

1. Brenda TownsendApril 3,2024 at 1:52PM UTC

   That's one that I seek out, is to have a mentor.

   Good luck!

2. Tara O'ConnorApril 3,2024 at 2:00PM UTC

   There is a mentor group on this site. Also if you know someone who you would like to mentor you, ask them.

3. AnonymousApril 3,2024 at 4:17PM UTC

   Not every company has the diversity levels especially in leadership that will allow this as it's still so new for many companies to acknowledge even woman, let alone women of color as leaders (yes, even in women owned companies).

   Find a mentor through your linkedin or other professional associations or personal connections that from the outside can guide your career trajectory where you want it to be. You never know, you might end up being the leader there that they don't need to hire because they already have you! Show them how you lead and for now take the guidance from your outside resource and internal women of other ethnicities than can help you shape your own growth. Relating can be something else you find in common with others whom you need to get to know. Find a thread and use that to spin the story where you want it to go.

4. AnonymousApril 3,2024 at 5:08PM UTC

   Not trying to be argumentative, just genuinely asking to gain more understanding. In my 40 years in the workforce, I have had 'mentors' or people that I could learn from that were all types - why limit your mentorship to someone that is exactly like you? I learned from men and from women. I learned from people older than me and people younger than me. I learned what NOT to do or how to act from terrible managers. And i learned how to be a much better manager from great managers. Often these were people considerably younger than me (my children's age). Most people my age think they already know everything or can only learn from someone older. I encourage you to learn as much as you can from everyone, and not limit yourself based on age, race, gender, etc. There is always something new to learn, and being a life-long learner is an attribute that all companies look for. Best wishes!

5. AnonymousApril 3,2024 at 6:33PM UTC

   Didnt take it as argumentative, Having worked for quite some time I have been open to and learned some of my best things fro.m men/women of all different races. Its at this time of my life where I require Upper level management advice from someone that looks like me. No issues other than my wants. For a company that is touting diversity ... I have to disagree and disagreeing makes them uncomfortable.

6. AnonymousApril 3,2024 at 7:17PM UTC

   Are you a person of color. She never said she always limited herself to finding someone exactly like her. I’ve become disillusioned from having several mentors not like me. It’s weird how many schools I’ve been to with large minority populations and the teachers don’t reflect the student body at all. I look back at the positive advice given and how it DID NOT prepare me for discrimination in workplaces or even applying for jobs where there was little to no diversity.

7. Jacqui McLeishApril 3,2024 at 8:17PM UTC

   This is exactly my concern. I can maneuver at the level I currently work at, but I want to be promoted to senior level and there are different avenues that only experience can address. Experiences differ by race and sex so having a mentor who can relate could benefit me and the company.

8. AnonymousApril 3,2024 at 8:58PM UTC

   People don’t understand there are certain things that can’t just be discussed with anyone especially if they are blind to what is going on. I know there are organizations of networks out there for Blacks in different professional fields like Engineering and Business. There’s probably for medical fields. Unfortunately for the career path I originally wanted to go down, I could never find anything substantial but it did an continued to lack diversity.

   An Allie sent me an article from the Atlantic that highlighted a historic strategic plot to eliminate blacks in the medical field in an area in the East coast. The number of Blacks in that field in that region hasn’t bounced back. There are a lot of hidden historical injustices like this.

9. AnonymousApril 4,2024 at 9:57PM UTC

   Do you have a source for that? I'd love to explore that further.

10. AnonymousApril 6,2024 at 9:20AM UTC

    The original article happened to be an excerpt from a memoir by Uché Blackstock MD called Legacy: A Black Physician Reckons with Racism in Medicine .

11. AnonymousApril 3,2024 at 6:37PM UTC

    Can you find one through your network? Or network first.