Why Emma Grede Triggered Black Women

Emma Grede's podcast hot take triggered Black women in a way that the podcast bros never could...but why?

I think it's because she looks like us... and that picks at the workplace wound Black women have been trying to heal, while also looking at our sisters being laid off in record numbers! 

For so many Black women, this conversation was never just about one clip or one opinion. It struck a nerve because many of us have experienced the Emma Gredes of the workplace.

We've experienced Black women who made the sacrifices and did the labor to get through the gates that seldom Black Women do. 

To rise to leader, Director, CEO, or founder by learning how to survive, assimilate, navigate white power structures, overcome inequities, and pay the price with their mental health, work-life balance, or values. 

So when we hear from other Black women that they expect us to pay the same cost, it hurts. 

Because they should know the cost, right?

As a Black woman, I don't expect Black men or white men to understand the cost. They didn't live it. In fact, in many ways, they benefit from it (though the patriarchy is actually very expensive for all of us).

It's why they'll never get the same push back for these types of takes. 

We do have different expectations for women who enter white and male-centered systems. 

We expect them to dismantle them once they get inside, especially when their proximity to whiteness and the privilege that comes with it is not accessible to everyone. 

And I say that as a Black woman who has successfully moved into management, who has worked under that same type of leader, and who will be walking down the aisle to marry a white man in a year’s time.

So I ask this... how powerful is it to state that one is a champion for women when the championing is modeled on the same oppressive leadership styles we've experienced since entering the workplace... merely repackaged for 2026 problems like remote work and visibility. 

Well, I think it's pretty powerful, but not in a way that benefits women in the long term. 

We cannot make change in the workplace if we continue to uphold the same oppression that we dealth with.

This conversation and the power dynamics around it are not about drive and ambition.

It's about whether Black women who are driven and ambitious have the option to do it in any other way than to align, assimilate, and subject themselves to white-centered, inequitable and oppressive systems. 

This conversation was triggering because many of us want a different experience, and we know we deserve it.

We want success and liberation. We want ambition and softness. 

Because progressive and liberatory Black women carry the belief that once you get through the gates, you don’t just drop the ladder. You also tear down the gate.

Some Black women who have grown by assimilating into white supremacy culture will drop the ladder and teach you how to climb.

But other Black women are committed to building a world where you never have to learn how to use the ladder at all. You get to take the elevator. The air balloon. Or however the hell you want to get there. 

Whatever the path, we want one that allows us to navigate work authentically, without fear of discrimination, prejudice, or workplace norms that were meant to displace us.

As Black women with power in the workplace, we all have a choice about what kind of path we create for others.

And I hope, collectively, we choose to dismantle what was never designed for us in the first place.

May you be a Shirley Chisolm in a world with Emma Gredes. 

If you’re ready to forge your own path to liberation, book a 1:1 strategy session with me. We'll ideate a path to a career or business move that feels Black Woman Bliss. I have a few spots left.