Who does she think she is?

Do you understand that one way privilege of any ilk presents itself is when someone automatically takes control and puts themself in charge of you and everyone in the space? Because women of color, especially Black women, are not centered in business or in the workplace, sometimes we acquiesce to others who take this stance automatically.

Remember the woman in Jason’s Deli who charged me up about my shirt that had French on it? She placed herself in charge of me, policing whether I knew what my own shirt said.

How about the Karens and her ring leader Amy Cooper in Central Park? Amy was put off because Christian Cooper, a Black man, assumed authority and told her to leash her dog. And then cue the dramatics. She literally came unglued because that was HER role to be in charge, so she thought, and not his. Christian Cooper flipped privilege on Amy and got it on video for the world to see. How many times do you think Amy said under her breath “Who does he think he is?”

Chapter 8 in No Thanks, 7 Ways to Say I’ll Just Include Myself shows you how to walk in your power. You’ll get to be a fly on the wall to one of my coaching sessions with a good girlfriend who’d been taken advantage of by a retailer that decided to sell her book without her permission.

But until we begin to rightfully walk in our power, assume the authority that we have earned and assert it, we will continue to get passed over, overlooked… deemed invisible, not credible, unprepared, unqualified… etc. No, everyone won’t like it, including some of your peers and other people of color (many times they are sent in to do the dirty work and keep the status quo)… but the best way to know that you’ve walked in your power is to leave them mumbling those six words.

How do you do this without fear of reprisals?

You need to get the book. The audiobook will be released this quarter.  Don’t miss the remix that will be released in late spring–two bonus chapters and an affirmation.  One of the chapters will examine the relationship between Black women and White women in the workplace and reveal the genesis of the Karen mindset, all grounded in research.