I quit my job in diversity, equity and inclusion (DEI) in 2025, but I never thought of myself as part the 600,000 Black women who were displaced from the workplace until recently.
I thought that I wasn't displaced because I made the choice to leave.
I wasn't laid off.
I wasn't pushed out.
I wasn't labeled as an underperformer. Nor did I fear for my job.
It wasn't until I started preparing my doctoral applications that I realized, I left because I was deeply uncomfortable in the workplace.
Moreover, I realized that I believed the #1 lie that Black women are told in the workplace: "You're the problem, not us."
The reality is... a huge part of the 600,000 were impacted by layoffs and terminations... but many felt just like me.
We were thinking, "I can't keep sacrificing my wellness to for a paycheck" or for a "mission"
I believed that because I had a goal of working for myself and traveling the world, that it meant that the challenges that made me WANT to leave the workplace didn't matter.
I think many of us would choose the "safety" of a stable paycheck over the vulnerability of being unemployed or self-employed.
But we live in a world where the paycheck nor the enviorment is stable.
We can't depend on that paycheck so we have to build our own streams of revenue.
We can't depend on leaders to do the right thing, so we have to prepare for them to do the worst.
So what do we do? We start making a way forward.
We say that we're choosing oureslves by making a pivot, taking a sabbatical or building a business.
I mean, it's a truely abundant decision to choose yourself...
BUT in reality, IT IS the context that we've had to navigate as Black women that has pushed so many of us to relate to our careers differently... and to feel like the workplace isn't a long term viable option for us.
Many of us would LOVE to be fully consumed in our work, LOVE what we do, and clock in each day to do work we're passionate about.
AND that shift is how we start to unpack the lie.
It's not our fault that we failed to navigate the workplace. It's not about our incompatibility or discomfort.
It's about how much workplace culture has failed us.
We have to realy call it like we see it, "THIS ISN'T NORMAL."
I recently sat down with the amazing Laura Knights to talk about my toxic workplace experiences and how Black women are choosing themselves.
I wanted to share it with you! So take a listen below!
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