- 1 day ago
In this must-see video, Essence and LeanIn.Org highlight the distinct barriers Black women face in the workplace and how companies and leaders can push for systemic change. If employers want to do better by women, they must do better by Black women.
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00:00we also know that equal payday is not just about a single check right it's about how much money
00:04black women lose out on and black women lose out on around one million dollars in income over the
00:11course of their lifetime due to the pay gap and the gap widens the overall wealth gap and affects
00:17financial security in black communities black women go come to your seat y'all we own less
00:23we own less than eight cents for every dollar owned by white men what
00:36imagine having to work nine months into 2022 to get paid what white men were paid in 2021 alone
00:45well that's the reality for black women in america and let's be clear it's not because black women
00:52are less qualified or less likely to ask for raises and promotions we're paid less because
00:58of systemic racism and discriminatory practices that has undervalued black women for decades
01:04black women deserve fair pay and it's time we close the pay gap today on black women equal pay day
01:10essence and lean in.org come together to highlight the barriers that black women face in the workplace
01:15to ensure that black women are and stay in their bag moving forward my name is nikki tucker head of
01:22social at lean in.org and i'm joined by three amazing fearless leaders let's welcome them okay ladies
01:29let's get into it we know that black women are paid less than white men and women even when we're doing
01:34the same exact jobs how has being underpaid impacted your career and lifestyle over the years
01:40why do you assume that we're underpaid i mean i mean the numbers don't lie i know the numbers don't lie
01:47i guess for my personal journey i gravitated to sales really and truly because i felt sales was a
01:54meritocracy and early on in my career you know i made a lot of money from like commission until i
02:04started moving into actually management and i actually did find out ladies that i was underpaid
02:12we had a very transparent sort of relationship my colleagues and i when i moved into management we were
02:17all sort of talking about how much we made i had a larger team than what he what he had at that time
02:25so i was deeply disappointed and thought all along that this was truly like a meritocracy i'm in sales
02:33numbers don't lie i had the highest performing team and here i am being paid almost a hundred thousand
02:39dollars less than my white counterpart um and what i did because again i'm a fighter yeah i know i'm a
02:49fighter but i'm a fighter ladies i'm a fighter and um you know i'm very fortunate for an organization
02:56called advertising women of new york which i was a member of it's now renamed as she runs it
03:02and she runs it really exposed me to other colleagues women who were in the industry across
03:10marketing sales and advertising and in that organization i began just conferring with other
03:16women doing my research and finding out how much they they were making as far as like leading teams that
03:23were similar in size i gathered that information didn't want to out my colleague and say my white male
03:30counterpart is making more than i did so i gathered that information and took it to
03:36my leadership and you know and said i have the highest performing team i'm grossly underpaid
03:42versus industry standard you know gathered this information from a number of colleagues
03:47from she runs it and you know i'm pleased to say that i was able to negotiate a course correction
03:56with my salary it didn't happen immediately this process did take me close to a year to do so that
04:04is unfortunate that data and just again your network is your net worth i truly believe in that and i've been
04:12underpaid especially and in particular moving from being in the for-profit or non-profit industry and
04:20and pursuing a career path in the not-for-profit industry and moving into for-profit that's where
04:28when i transitioned i was underpaid relative to a peer who was technically more junior than me it left me
04:37you know feeling um a bit bruised because they should have paid me what i was worth i had the experience
04:44you know i had credentials and all of that and i was more senior i should have been making more money
04:52i remember i had already stepped into a role and i had negotiated the heck out of it and someone in hr
04:59was like don't ever tell anyone what you make because i negotiated and so a lot of times these companies the
05:08way that they kind of they told you not to they're in hr and they're telling you not to talk about
05:14salaries not to tell people how much you make which is protected activity under the national labor
05:22relations act so okay but just because the protected activity doesn't mean that companies won't try it
05:30yeah it's a means to it's a means to keep people in certain positions from claiming what is rightfully
05:40theirs yeah let's talk about education everyone here has a bachelor's degree or more which means we've
05:46all put in the time and the work and investment in ourselves however the pay gap is largest for black
05:53women who have a bachelor's degree or higher known that black women hold more student debt than women or
06:00men of any other raise how has being paid less impacted your ability to pay off debt and afford
06:05ongoing training i'm reading up more and more about people that have you know paid diligently yeah for
06:1210 15 20 years on their loans i'm one of those right and have made very little a very little um dent in
06:21it because because of the way the interest rates are set up and payment schedules are set up so they're not
06:27designed for people to ever overcome that financial barrier and that's disheartening especially
06:33because we know black women are so deeply disproportionately impacted by this and black women have the
06:39largest share i believe of student loan debt yeah wow in the country so it's for me i i one of my purposes here
06:51is to get my family and i'm talking about like my family um going down back to my roots um
07:02get financial stability um and close the gap financial gaps that's one of my reasons for being and student
07:11loans directly impact that you know they directly impact the choices that i can make about buying a house
07:18or you know spending money here investing in myself yes you talked about professional development
07:26um one your companies hopefully offer some sort of professional development yeah invest in invest in
07:34black women investing your employees and you know there might be other classes or further education or
07:41something that you want to take and when you've got student loans you know that are due and the monthly
07:48bill is upper hundreds or thousands you're making real life choices i was very fortunate where i went to
07:56a city city university so i walked with no debt for undergrad and then um right yes yeah absolutely no debt
08:05um and then later on as an executive i went back and got my executive mba um at an ivy so uh use the money
08:18that i've made as an executive to sort of what i call gentrify gentrify the education um so that was my
08:27path so i was i was super fortunate um and shout out to baruch very fortunate to go to an excellent city
08:33university um and not have any time i want to take a moment to celebrate all three of you women
08:40pauline and erica are in the c suite and katrina is a vp getting to this level is no easy feat
08:46especially considering the barriers we face as black women black women are severely underrepresented in
08:51senior leadership we account for less than two percent of both vp level employees and the c suite
08:58have you and any other black woman you know experiences how have you navigated these experiences to
09:03be able to advance into leadership roles we've definitely all experienced that um i will say
09:09for for my own personal journey um you know i i go where i'm celebrated say that again i go where i'm
09:18celebrated everyone hear that yes i go where i am celebrated and you know i say that with great
09:25intention because i don't know if i'm the youngest of six kids i was always the rebel um and sort of uh
09:36you know walked in but beat to my own drum um so to speak and really really for me how that's guided my
09:44career is i was loyal to my career versus the job so you know i was blessed to have a great ally
09:54and one of my first bosses who was a chief revenue officer early on in my career white male um who saw
10:03in me he's like you're going to be great right and saw in me like that was where the seed was planted to
10:09be a chief revenue officer never really had that sort of um experience yet again though
10:16where you know i was promoted about four times in that role or at that company and um really felt
10:25like things were boundless for me what i found throughout my career was i would be celebrated
10:33initially and then be faced with a lot of microaggression and second guessing of judgment
10:39um and how i've been able to excel in my career was really moving to different companies yeah um
10:48and and and going further and further up that career ladder we talk about the middle rung and why it's
10:54broken and yes people aren't black women are not getting promoted less likely to get promoted and
11:01they're also just opting out when you look at those numbers and seeing people black women become
11:07entrepreneurs which i think is amazing but i wonder often how many have stepped off their career
11:16track because it's just it's too much yeah it's too much i feel very fortunate to be at essence
11:23yes our mission is to deeply serve black women and before coming to essence i had been interviewing for
11:32cmo jobs for probably two years and you know what the main criteria was to have been a cmo before
11:41and how do you ever get to that role it took essence seeing me not having an arbitrary set of
11:48requirements but looking at my body of work and who i was and what i could bring to the brand and to
11:55um essence ventures many brands um it took it took a black man entrepreneur rich menace to
12:04to allow me to step into that role and their the goal posts didn't move they didn't change halfway
12:10through the interview process or when you get the job we get the job it's just like we just need you to
12:17show up as you are every single day it's the assumption of competency but also the extension
12:23of grace right so we yes yeah yeah that you're you will come in and bring all of your brilliance and all
12:30of your expertise and your experience and you will kill it right um and you will get some grace and some
12:37understanding because you will make mistakes yeah well and we talk about that openly yeah about about um
12:43having a culture of failure where failure is embraced our leadership our whole c-suite our
12:50our leaders um you know our chairman our ceo give themselves permission to fail yes and fail often
12:58and and we've repeatedly talked about if we aren't failing we actually aren't learning and growing yeah
13:04and there's just like i could feel my shoulders relax for the first time ever you know what i mean i want
13:12to add to that what you're saying in terms of the feeling free and to just acknowledge um richelieu dennis
13:22and caroline wonga for seeing us um that sort of anxiety that you talk about is real yeah um especially
13:31when you're in white spaces and like erica i um would get that sort of vp or svp role
13:43but not the top c-level job because they always felt more comfortable with a white man in that seat
13:50i mean i've never thought of vp or c-level role until now that i'm getting older and seeing you know
13:57black women as vps black women in c-suite and i'm like oh maybe i do have higher genes and i just never
14:04thought about it because i've never seen it you do and you have to we have to um continue to bring
14:10women yeah you have to bring them up yeah yeah with us along the journey i have fallen into the trap
14:16even recently in my career of working myself down to the bone yeah and having to prove that i'm worth
14:26worth every penny you gave me which what probably wasn't enough yes yes yes
14:36just so i can get just so someone else can tell me whether or not i've hit my bonus target
14:41because i've gotten an arbitrary score yeah you know what i'm saying so yeah you know i i think
14:47part of part of the pay gap discussion has to be about black women being able to
14:54show up yes fully and completely but as themselves and that that is enough to garner the the salary
15:04that yes deserve yes based on what we bring to the table yeah absolutely yeah we always talk about
15:10black girl magic and all that stuff that that magic magic and it not only is enough but it gives them a
15:16differentiator yeah right a homogeneous sort of workforce does not spur innovation or
15:24growth so that diversity of opinion thought to show up how in your authentic self only drives the
15:32bottom line i'll be honest i felt like i had to code switch because of some of the like control very um
15:39the microaggression yeah and the controlling language yeah you know i noticed in that meeting you were just
15:44a tad loud and aggressive yeah like i've noticed in that meeting um you didn't show up authentically you
15:51were script you were too scripted like all of that i think you know feeds into this need that you
15:59have you have to you have to you have to find environments that allow you to show up we also
16:05know that equal payday is not just about a single check right it's about how much money black women
16:10lose out on and black women lose out on around one million dollars in income over the course of their
16:17lifetime due to the pay gap and the gap widened the overall wealth gap and affects financial security
16:23in black communities black women hold on to your seat y'all we own less than eight cents for every
16:31dollar owned by white men what less than eight cents so if we wanted to bring that pay gap to zero
16:38how would this impact the black community in your opinions the gdp of the country would drastically
16:44increase like what would it look like for communities and black communities specifically
16:51that have been gentrified or are always on the cusp of being the next community that flips right for
17:00cheap real estate etc you know at essence one of our pillars and missions is all about creating equity in
17:08the black community and um really you know that is through entrepreneurship home ownership um so you
17:17know driving that pay gap down to zero right now home ownership for black women it's like or black people's
17:27like 42 percent in this country um and which is insane whereas our white counterparts it's like 68 percent
17:36and wealth starts with home ownership yeah right um when you can own either your own business or your
17:44own your own house right and property that you can pass down um so creating that equity that we so
17:52desperately deserve as a people um would be tremendous what can white men and women and other non-black
17:59people do to break down barriers for black women at work especially people who have leadership roles
18:03one i think there needs to be trade paid transparent a little bit more pay transparent yeah um the
18:10owners shouldn't have to be on all of us to like get on the phone tree and call each other and say hey
18:16okay this is what i'm making what are you making um so i think paid transparency is really important
18:21and i think the second thing we have to examine is um you know a lot of these industries and structures
18:27weren't designed with us in mind yes yes and so we're walking in at a deficit because we're having
18:34to navigate a space that was never for us built for us and so i think dismantling some of the systems
18:42that seem that seem on the surface very fair but actually do a great deal of work to hold black people back
18:49i'm talking about like looking even at the reviews from yes yes um i'm talking about thinking about how
18:56you are a sponsor for people yeah so how they are not in rooms how you can speak up and out and for them
19:06dedicated mentorship programs not just at the entry level because quite often companies will offer that
19:13at the entry level but not at that sort of middle rung um level it starts to sort of fall apart and
19:22there really isn't structured sort of mentorship to help people rise from that middle level to a vp or svp
19:30etc um so i would say that really again that system of paying it forward more formally um having those sorts
19:39of programs especially in highly matrix corporations so katrina questions for you we know black women
19:45experience an unequal playing field even before they start a new world for example in one study
19:50placing a stereotypical black sounding name with a stereotypical white sounding name on a candidate's
19:55resume resulted in 50 percent more callbacks that's an equivalent of eight years of work experience
20:02with your experience working in hr for over a decade how can companies and leaders reduce bias in
20:07hiring and promotion a few things that you can do one you can set targets diversity targets by both
20:14race and gender so only roughly seven percent of companies actually set targets by both race and
20:21gender when setting representation targets overall representation targets you have to look at both
20:27because black women exist at the intersection of both race and gender and we need you to see us
20:34the second thing that companies and organizations can do is they can get beyond representation so set
20:42targets for promotions for professional development you should be looking at the data set targets for
20:50those big career defining opportunities that people get and you know that people will need to have
20:57in order to make it into leadership you need to set targets for that so pauline as the chief revenue
21:02officer of essence you're the official money lady can you share some salary negotiation tips to make
21:08sure black women are advocating for themselves what are your top three yeah so i am a strong believer
21:14firstly in a professional network and even if you can't afford those sort of professional member um you
21:21know groups there are always groups on linkedin that are free that are industry-based so really that sort of
21:28network where you can share information i'm up for a role for vice president or for director for um you know sales
21:37or marketing what are you seeing in terms of comp for this role i always do my research and when i was
21:44interviewing for chief revenue officer spoke to a lot of colleagues that were in that seat um so that's the first thing do your
21:52research um number two start high within that man you never want to start with where you want to land
22:01so if you're trying to land at 350 you start at 425 okay 450 let it make you uncomfortable yeah you start high
22:13and and i use that tactic even with like in sales and marketing when i'm negotiating deals i never start
22:20with where i want to land i start high so i could balance it out and get to where i wanted to land
22:27anyway so have a number in mind and you know the third thing again is it's not just about money even
22:36though i am the money lady it is about the money but it's also about your happiness which is intangible
22:42right so also when you're negotiating you really want to make sure that this is an environment where you
22:48can thrive ask the right questions about you know um the culture how are they promoting and how are
22:57they really how do they treat employees in certain situations do your homework so you know that this
23:02is an area or a company that where you can really thrive and be happy and successful in so erica as
23:09the chief marketing officer of essence you advocate for it and champion black women i'm sure it's a buzzkill for
23:14you to pitch essence to companies that do not have black women in positions of power how can companies
23:19and organizations ensure black women are in positions of power aka leadership roles so they have
23:24a seat at the table the first thing is um flattening your org what i mean by flattening your org is
23:31allowing even your interns to come into the room allowing even your interns and your junior your
23:37coordinators to have an opinion embracing ideas and allowing them to to championate and and actually
23:45execute against those and so i think companies one have to not think so hierarchical in how they work
23:51with um their employees well ladies we talked about the stock realities of the pay gap but i want to know
23:58what is your vision for black women in the future and how do you see us thriving global domination
24:02global domination love that i think we already are there yeah sometimes we just don't realize how
24:12powerful we actually are yeah my wish for black women is that we recognize and see that in ourselves
24:18and we act yes my wish is for black women to be fully immersed in joy and to and for rest to thrive and to
24:30live in abundance in full abundance in every area of your life and seize every opportunity for those things
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