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.
Representation
Since my departure for that one week, I have had many positive interactions with my staff, peers and my boss, the CEO.
I was a lesbian poster child at work. People would call me and ask, "We are having this affirmative action committee, do you want to be on it?" I'd ask, "Who are you and how do you know who I am?" I w
I was in a meeting with Condeleeza Rice. I was the only other black person at the meeting. After the meeting was over she came straight to me. She ignored everyone else in the room and introduced herself.
Everybody-white, black, Asian, Indian, male, female-we all have obstacles to overcome. I think everybody has some obstacles to get beyond. I think as an African-American, I've experienced positive support and barriers as well.
When I first got the job, I was filling out the forms. I was like, what should I do? Being Middle-Eastern, technically, I'm white. Being Egyptian and Egypt is in Africa, do I choose African-American? I was being friendly to the HR person so I asked what I should do. She said, could you pick the minority? I said, yeah, sure. I am an African, I am a minority. Why not pick African-American?
My company has 1000 people now. When I started I was the only Arab-American in the whole company. I was the only Muslim in the whole company. They used to call me the "Trophy Arab." Which is probably true.
It could be a numbers game. African-Americans have a significant percentage of the workforce and Hispanics are the same way. But there aren't that many Middle-Eastern people in the first place. I joined the marketing committee of a professional organization for Hispanic MBAs because there wasn't one for Arab-Americans.
As African American women, we are accustomed to putting white women at ease. It's not brain surgery for us. I was the only black woman in my organization. Even at my interview, I noticed that the board president was uncomfortable.
There are three levels of testing you have to go through. I graduated from one of the best engineering schools in the country. People said to me, "Sure, you have a PhD, but can you do real work? How good are you out here in the real world?" So I had to roll up my sleeves and prove my abilities like everybody else.
When I started my company, we had one of the most diverse management teams ever. In my years in corporations, I never heard diversity talked about.
