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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.
Darlene Johnson's Experiences
When I was working for a pharmaceutical company, I went on a sales call with one of the directors. After we left the field, he said, "Let's go have a drink and maybe we can get something to eat.
When I interviewed with this pharmaceutical company, the human resources representative told me that I was being hired to sell to the black physicians.
I attended a training session in New York for three weeks where we would have round table discussions about how to explain different issues from a pharmaceuticals perspective.