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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.
When I decided to quit, I was already launching my business
- Workplace Unfairness
- Female
- Latino/a or Hispanic
- Health Care
- Left & is now Self-Employed
- Health Care
- Entrepreneurship
- Fed Up
- Growth
- Resigning
When I decided to quit, I was already launching my business. I already had clients who needed more of my time. I made a meeting with my boss to give him the letter. We hardly ever met. He forgot the memo about the meeting. He said, "Well, I've only got a minute. I said to him, "Well, it's only going to take a minute for me to hand you this letter. But it might take you longer to read it." He just about fell out of his chair. It proved to me that I was doing the right thing. I was never going to go anywhere.