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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.
Liam Henderson's Experiences
In our department we all went by first names. But when I was going to conferences, meeting people from a different department, they referred to other people by more formal titles, but no one every referred to me by doctor.
I worked my way through the company for 14 years. I did everything from testing devices to billion dollar sales. I did this for 13 years. In the 14th year, they brought in a sales person, who had no experience in testing or processing.
What broke the camel's back: I became a director of the non-profit organization that deals with industry standards, an organization that I worked on in my own free time. My name came up to become VP of the prestigious non-profit.