😢 I completely missed it, and I know you probably have too. I’m talking about, my kids’ bedtime.

Yesterday, I spent time on conference calls, crafting & revising emails and navigating horrible workplace etiquette and bad apple attitudes. Woof. 😩

And yet, I can’t help but feel I’m being called a “disgruntled employee” in the leadership calls and water cooler conversations.

As a black woman, in corporate, we are constantly REQUIRED (not expected) to show up and wear the badge of STRENGTH.

*Strength looks like having to:

  • Navigate workplace racism with a smile, while driving D&I initiatives forward
  • Say yes to everything you’re asked to do, even if it’s outside of your remit and if you push back like you’re supposed to, so-called colleagues pull “rank”
  • Reporting problems within the system and never hearing a response
  • Being talked down to like you don’t know what you’re doing, and smiling through it
  • Feeling guilty (and being blamed) for everything that goes wrong even when you stayed up late (or woke early) to ensure the project was perfect — and someone else dropped the ball
  • Literally being told your work is a “mess,” yep, someone at the very senior leadership level told me an email I wrote was a mess recently, after I worked on it for two days and someone else (of course, more senior) made big revisions that changed what I originally submitted 😂
  • Most painfully, missing your kids bedtime 💤, having to sneak into their room while they’re almost in REM sleep to whisper, “goodnight, I love you,” because you’re working on the “mess” of an email you drafted and a slew of other projects that have been assigned to you in the past two hours.

I’m trying to remember, there’s an ultimate destination and my job is just part of the journey. I’m just passing through. Leadership is about remembering that plans change, and we’re required to pivot. But we can’t forget the destination (our dream) — we have to find a way to learn through it all.

Hang in there.

Xo, Taylor