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Vote on Desiree Davidson's Story
Were they afraid we were planning a coup d'etat?
I spent my first summer during Columbia Law School at a firm in Philadelphia described as one of the best places in the city for black lawyers. I believed that if there was any place where I would have an equal chance at opportunities, be treated fairly and succeed, this would be it. There were three black female summer associates out of sixty that year but any time all three of us were in an office talking, one of the partners would knock on the door to see how we were doing. It happened too often to be a coincidence that sometimes we would purposely agree to meet in so-and-so's office to test our theory that we were being monitored. Like clock work, ten minutes after we would get together a partner would stop by.
Syrita Barnes's Experiences
I remember a woman coming up to me and touching my hair. She said, "Oh, it's soft." I was like, what did you expect? Brillo?"
When I first started working in financial services, they started by putting me in sales to see if I could handle it. The person who hired me said they had hired two women before me. He asked me, "I just want to know how you handle it when you get your period." I was so surprised. I don't even remember what I said. My jaw was flapping in the wind.
Because I became a top producer and I was rapidly promoted, soon my previous boss and I became peers. He was a regional sales director; I was a regional sales director. I could tell that he assigned my ability to do well to my looks.
When I left the second financial services firm, I had a doubled-edged situation. My numbers were so high that they couldn't deny that. I wrote a report and my boss said to me, "You wrote this?" She was surprised that I could do it.