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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.
Balancing Work and Life on a Red-Eye, Cross Country Flight
- Workplace Unfairness
- Female
- Caucasian
- Information Technology/Internet
- Non-Profit
- Business Travel
- Worklife Balance
From 1994 until 2000, I was working 70 hours and it was insane. I was responsible for opening an office in New York, two in Los Angeles, and one in San Francisco. I literally had to travel to New York and Los Angeles at least once a week. I also had two kids and didn't want to be away from them more than one or two nights a weeks. So, I would take the "red-eye" flight at 11:00 p.m., arrive in New York the next morning at 7:00 a.m., have all-day meetings for two days and then fly home at the end of the second day. I did that every week for an entire year. What really suffered was my lack of sleep, anything else besides taking care of my kids or my work.