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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 got a mentor
- Workplace Unfairness
- Male
- African-American
- Engineering
- Banking - Investment
- Mentors
- Positive Experience
When I got a mentor, it was a person who sat me down and said: "This is what you do to get promoted. This what you do to get a raise. This is the department you need to go in." Things were better when I was taking that advice. My mentor was another black guy in the company. He was someone who got a raise faster than I did. He just sat me down and said, "Hey, look, this is what you need to do." I had a manager who I could talk to "off-line" and he could give me personal insights.