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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.
Houston Bowden's Experiences
I made a tough choice not to work in a large corporate environment and to work in start-ups, because start-ups don't have a lot of management layers. Everybody is necessary to make the company successful.
There are three levels of testing you have to go through. I graduated from one of the best engineering schools in the country. People said to me, "Sure, you have a PhD, but can you do real work? How good are you out here in the real world?" So I had to roll up my sleeves and prove my abilities like everybody else.
My first time being a manager for a group of people, I got zero support from the executives to deal with a problem employee. Meanwhile, this person was going behind my back to complain about me. I would go to the executives and ask for help, advice, how to deal with this person.