Last week we took an important pause to listen, learn, and amplify resources, voices, and content from Black creators as part of #AmplifyMelanatedVoices created by @blackandembodied and @jessicawilson.msrd.
It was a time for us to stop talking while we learn from the Black community, listen to their experiences, engage in their teachings, and start informing ourselves to take action. We know it is not the Black community's job to educate non-Black people about the way racism shows up in the workplace or in our day-to-day lives.
Actions speak louder than words and while we plan to unmute Career Contessa, we don't plan to stop listening, learning, or doing the work.
At Career Contessa, we come to work every day to build a more equal, inclusive, and supportive workplace and world for all people—and specifically women. This includes work to navigate the countless obstacles women experience from the wage gap, the motherhood penalty, the leadership gap, sexual harassment, discrimination, hostile work environments, subtle biases, and microaggressions to name a few.
However, the road to equality looks different for Black women. Black women face even further obstacles to their advancement and, as a result, are even less likely to move into leadership roles, be paid fairly for the same work as "the average woman," and have the same career opportunities as white and non-Black women.
“The average woman” is not a real person—it's a mathematical average. And she doesn’t struggle against intersectional injustices and systemic racism. What might work for her isn’t going to work for Black women. With discrimination and racism boiling at the surface, these recent events remind us all of how much more work there still is to do to dismantle white supremacy.
Despite the fact that Career Contessa has taken pride in creating a resource that brings together people (contributors, career coaches, event panelists, readers, etc.) who don’t see themselves reflected back at them in other resources, it's not good enough. There is a lot of work to be done and we're committed to doing it.
Moving forward, we will be highlighting how racist behaviors play out in the world and in the workplace—and what individuals can do to step up as an ally and practice anti-racism today and every day after that on a consistent and ongoing basis. You have my commitment that the amplification we’ve been doing of Black voices on our social channels, in our articles, and in our newsletters will continue.
And you have my commitment that we’ll embed action against racism into our very business as well: At Career Contessa, we will be working with more Black contributors, donating to organizations, reading, enrolling in anti-racism classes, and learning from this ever-evolving list of resources on a regular basis.
For organizations, here are a few we've been learning from and donating to:
- ACLU
- Black Lives Matter: What You Can Do to Help Resource List
- Black Visions Collective
- Campaign Zero
- Color of Change
- NAACP
For online learning, The Great Unlearn by Rachel Cargle and Unity Over Comfort Experience by Monique Melton are the two programs we're starting with in addition to our team reading How to Be Antiracist by Ibram x Kendi as our first monthly book club pick. Our goal is not only information but transformation by doing the work together.
For corporate tools, Say Space, is our go-to resource. You can register yourself and/or someone from your team into Say Space's Diversity Equity & Inclusion Change Agents course here. They also have an Executive Allyship program that you or a leader from your company can sign up for.
For the entire Career Contessa community, make your employers accountable. Bring a Black-owned diversity, equity, and inclusion company in-house, and here's an ever-evolving list of companies and consultants accepting new clients created by Awaken. Then you can send Rachel Cargle's email template to request employer accountability.
These are just a few of the places and ways we are getting started with this work. Personally, I'm learning to be uncomfortable, accept the detours and reroutes that I will experience while I do the ongoing work of unlearning. I acknowledge my white skin automatically gives me a universal advantage in this world.
I acknowledge the devastating impact of racism, hatred, and police brutality. I affirm that Black lives matter and the right for every Black person to live in a safe world. That includes creating space for the Career Contessa community to share how we can support you. Please know our door is always open at info@careercontessa.com and we care.
We are committed to making this different—it has to be—and I share this not because I'm looking for a pat of the back, to center ourselves, or quick wins—I share this because progress requires daily work, daily action, daily listening, daily learning and "perfection" will only hold our world back as we put in the work to end racism, become allies, unlearn and acknowledge white privilege, create racially just workplaces and communities, and support racial justice.
We will pull up, show up, and do better. I invite your feedback. Please reach out to me directly at lauren@careercontessa.com. We also want to hear your stories, share your stories, and be part of amplifying Black voices. Pleases send your pitches to caileen@careercontessa.com.
