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.
Uncredited Responsibility
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.
As a black money manager, I always felt like I had to be extra competent. I had to be better than the other money managers, not only to keep my job but for other younger minorities coming up behind me.
I have a pretty elaborate skill set in the high tech industry. My skill set is very diverse. My father had his own computer business. I was always involved in computers growing up. No matter how much I knew, I was NO'ed at the end.
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
In my current job, one of the partners took me to a business meeting just to get more black people there. Because of that, another attorney said to me, "Well, yeah, you know this particular partner really likes working with you, really likes toting you around.
I'm going to put together a proposal because I realize that we don't have a diversity policy at this firm. Let's take a look at what is going on. At this firm the last three associates that have left have been associates of color.
It was expected for me to do some recruiting for MBAs of color. Early on I got credit for doing it and I put it on my evaluation. It was something that I enjoyed doing, so I never bothered to try to explain that I was really working on some of these things.
