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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.
Baina Townsend's Experiences
I was associate general counsel and my primary client was the vice chair of the bank. I did a lot of very exciting cutting edge deals. I had been able to bring my expertise to the table. I gave the bank great advice.
Before the bank was acquired, I had been involved with their diversity programs for ten years. But the new bank's diversity programs had just started. Diversity for the new bank meant programs for African-American people.
In regards to the leadership, it wasn't just the color of their skin. The bank's old leadership was all white men and they were perfectly fine dealing with a short black woman in glasses. But the new bank wasn't ready for that.
My internal client told someone he didn't think he could work with me after what I did. What did I do? I challenged him in front of 600 people. And I got an award for it the next day. But as my friends would say, challenging him was a career-limiting move.