The Black Women Thriving initiative began in 2020, which at the time seemed like the best and most challenging time to take on such a world-changing workplace endeavor.
It felt challenging because looking back at the beginning of the pandemic, the collective terror and uncertainty of those early months felt scary and overwhelming for many — and we were not excluded from that emotion.
But it was also the best time, as the pandemic and societal events confirmed the truth of our long-held hypothesis: Black women weren’t thriving at work.
Even when Black women achieve the pinnacle of career “success,” they are still not thriving. What we knew before but it is even more sharply defined now is that organizations have a tendency to make big promises about diversity, equity, and inclusion …that they don’t keep. And the promises broken are no longer being overlooked by BIPOC folks, especially Black women.
With the Great Resignation, Black women made it clear that we did want to continue to create and maintain workplace structures that aren’t built for us. And we didn’t want our grit and resilience to be what we have to lean on to get through the everyday.
Everything that we have just said isn’t a matter of opinion, it is now backed by our research in our new Black women thriving report!
Over the years of research, we dove into this work with two core audiences in mind:
In the end, we found tangible action steps to the root issues organizations operate within. Also, we strengthened our position to make this data-backed proclamation: When Black women thrive, inequitable norms and power structures that are often unquestioned breakdown. Our goal is for thriving to replace surviving for everyone.
This 51-page report is both a guide and a call to action for organizations to reflect on the findings and make informed choices about how to better support Black women at work.
Our lives outside of the workplace are full of community, joy, and love.
We should be able to experience the same at work.
Download now: Black Women Thriving Report.
Thriving together,
Ericka
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