I started my career journey playing by two golden rules – (1) go to school and (2) get a good job. So, I went to college, took on every internship under the sun, worked hard, and still wasn’t completely fulfilled. I’d done everything “right” and couldn’t figure out why I wasn’t advancing at the pace I expected.
And that combined with the fact that management, executive and C-Suite ranks have negligible representations of women; much less people of color— left me dazed and confused. I was completely lost on the mental stamina it required, yet enamored with the climb and title and what it meant for my limited definition of success. No one told me the amount of assimilation and EQ it would require to make it to the top. In fact, all anyone demonstrated for me was all that I would have to change to fit in.
One day I decided to stop believing the myth that someone else was in charge of my career and started to believe in the magic of my uniqueness and the talent I bring to the table. And just like that, I went from riding along in the passenger seat of my career to steering my career from the driver’s seat. Well, maybe it wasn’t ‘just like that’. It was more so a process of defining and understanding my “why”—a shift from an, I’ve-got-potential course to an I’ve-got-purpose journey changed my entire career trajectory.
Sure, corporate America is littered with micro-inequities and other landmines. While I don’t purport to have the cure for inequity, I do know that my “why” is to help ambitious professionals just like you, shatter cemented ceilings, illuminate unseen and unheard obstacles, define your “why,” and ultimately, cultivate the career you deserve