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 Care & Service
I was working for a major financial institution and was promised a promotion. Instead of giving me the promotion I was promised, my boss gave me another promotion.
Victoria Sanders
When I finally got hired, I had to meet with the administrator and the first thing she said was, "I hear that you don't wear dresses." And I said, "Is there a problem with that? Is there some sort of dress code?" And I looked around and all of the other women there were wearing slacks.
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
The one time I almost lost my job was a time I had a group of people I had hired and the majority of people I hired were minorities. The vice president gave me the job and told me to hire my staff and I did.
I worked with a contractor who I had worked with for three years. But it was always over the phone. One day, we finally met and she saw me. She said, "You didn't sound black."
I would attend company dinners at executives' homes. People would bring their wives and husbands, but I could never bring my partner. People always thought I was single and couldn't find a date, so th
I got to work in lots of different departments at the bank. I got to incorporate domestic partner benefits. I helped start a lesbian work group and was co-chair of that for a number of years. I ended
I woke up at 45 and asked myself, "You know, you never asked me if I liked these rules." I don't like working this many hours per week. There were a number of things in my life that I wanted to explore that I didn't have time to do.
Mine is a complicated story. I had been a math teacher for 5 years, got into high tech next, at a financial software company which was #2 in the market, great company. The industry was booming, every year I would get a promotion and get more money, I was climbing and initially I was a programmer but pretty soon I realized that I was "too extroverted" to sit at a computer.
