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.
Personal Values
I would leave in the morning before my kids were up and come home past 8 or 9, after they were fast asleep.
If you are a person of color or a woman, corporate America can steal a bit of your soul. It takes a certain kind of person to work in that environment. Once, I spoke at an African-American young professional association event and I told the guests, "Those of you who can work in corporate America and maintain a certain level of dignity, God bless you because it's not for me, I can't do it."
The advice I would give to others is to have a strong sense of identity and enough self-dignity to speak up when someone says something like black people can't play quarterback, even it means being fired.
In 2000, I was the Vice-President of Finance for an entrepreunerial internet incubator. Within six months of joining, the internet bubble burst and all our funding was lost.
In my current position at a nonprofit, I asked my boss, "How important is it for us to meet the bottom line if we are going to be financially stable on the cash side?" My boss replied, "We're really about the mission.
I left because it wasn't driving me. I wasn't doing what I was doing in order to move up - moving up didn't interest me, because I knew I was going to move on in five years. Ultimately, I decided to follow a dream I had since college.
I worked as a journalist until I got tired of being poor and then I went back to work in a law firm. I thought it was a job that would pay well enough that I could work for three or four years and then quit to write the great Mexican-American novel.
