I have an educational background with a top American engineering school and an Ivy League University. Society does not expect to see someone that looks like me on the campuses much less in those classrooms. Nevertheless, I did that.
Several years ago, I had a White co-worker tell me that my voice on the phone and my knowledge base made him assume that I was much older and also White; so, he was shocked when he met me. He was also quite dumb because … I mean, use LinkedIn! I told him never assume anything about someone’s race based on the sound of their voice. I was already clued into the assumptions and bias that people have and offended that intelligence and articulation are deemed ” White” traits.
The fact of the matter is that there is no gender or color for intelligence. However, if you ask Apple or Amazon – you’ll find that “Siri” and “Alexa” voices are predominate in their AI. I’ll leave it at that and expect the Tech world to act on what they already seem to know. I have worked in high fidelity technology, advertising, consumer product companies, and even management consulting and found the smartest contributors to be women and what is deemed as ‘minority’ by virtue of ethnicity.
What I know for certain is there is nothing minor about me. I AM a Black woman with top rank role at bowmo after having many top rank roles in predominately male multibillion dollar companies and industry. Here at bowmo we live gender diversity every single day across the multitude of teams that deliver our evolutionary products and services to clients in the Human Capital space.
As a woman, I know that I AM one of the most impactful beings on the planet because I execute and build relationships on the basis of equality. I was born working for it. I lead first with being human and let the work speak for itself. I know that before me came Indra Nooyi of PepsiCo, Mary Barra of GM, Meg Whitman of Hewlett Packard, Marilyn Hewson of Lockheed Martin, Safra A. Catz of Oracle, Lynn Good of Duke Energy, Lisa Su at Advanced Micro Devices, Denise M. Morrison of Campbell Soup. My personal favorites Debra L. Reed of Sempra Energy, Ursula M. Burns of Xerox and Carol Meyrowitz of TJX Companies.
I have the confidence of knowing that America and the world, eats, fuels, drives, dresses, connects and lives on the intelligence and leadership of powerful, confident, diverse and MAJOR women who essentially as business leaders, drive the STEM that keeps people employed and America sustainable. I AM in good company.
Intelligent, Accomplished and Bold… I just so happen to be a Black woman, too…
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