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.
Broken Promises
I was recruited for a position with a Big Four accounting firm. They pressured me for a start date, sent me an offer letter which I signed and sent back.
I left after I was transferred to a different department to do work for one of the top executives. Initially, I was told that this position would come with a significant raise.
I was hired as an office manager for a boutique graphic design agency and several months into the job, my boss fired all the higher-level (i.
At the time I was frustrated, but didn't really recognize the extent to which I had been taken advantage of.
I would have stayed if I had been given the raise and bonus I was promised. I would have stayed if I hadn't felt so used.
When I first got the job offer, I was going to be in the business division. After I started working, however, they placed me in the affordable housing division. There had been another African-American man in affordable housing, but then he left.
I had made a huge sacrifice. They were looking for someone to relocate from New York to North Carolina. I volunteered to do that and was told that I could be compensated accordingly. But not only was
