Code Switch to Code Breaking

For Black History Month, I’m reflecting on my Black womanhood and what it means to be me in today’s world of work. As a Bronx-born, Long Island-raised Black woman, I immediately mastered the necessity of code-switching early on. For many of us learning to adjust speech, behavior, and appearance to fit in with our white peers becomes second nature. This skill, while adaptive, carries over into the workplace and altering our authentic selves to conform to non-diverse corporate cultures comes at a cost. When you learn to minimize parts of yourself to survive as a kid, this mental and emotional toll can follow you throughout your 30s, 40s, and sometimes 50s. Let’s dive into the ways assimilation exhausts us and how to recover from it.

1. Professional Voice

My mother, who literally brightens any room she walks in, recalls feeling insecure about her Jamaican accent as a teenager when she first came to New York. As she got older, her street smarts required her to learn a “professional voice” as a critical skill when at work to avoid being stereotyped or devalued.? Many of us have had to police our own language to fit into the narrow confines of what's deemed "professional."Not only is it exhausting but it chips away at our authenticity, over the years creating a deep divide between who we are and where it’s safe to be who we are.?

2. Dressing the Part

In our communities, the importance of image and how you present yourself, especially in professional settings is a critical piece and can often determine survival. Appealing to what the mainstream considers “professional” can determine whether you get the job or are given an opportunity. The expectation to dress in a certain way often disregards cultural and personal identities. In my book, Dreaming on Purpose (due out June 18, 2024!), I write about how early in my career “I spent a lot of time at shopping malls to buy the right business attire. I was so determined to look the part at my first professional job. I wanted to be taken seriously and prove to management that they had hired the right person.”This pressure not only stifles individuality but over time can lead to disconnection with your true self. This is why I (all caps) LOVE my friend and colleague, Naana Badu’s work at Badu Basics . Her whole attitude is that personal style is a flex and you should never minimize your image just to make others comfortable. Professional is a word I am profoundly critical of. It will always beg the questions: professional to whom? And who is driving the narrative of who and what is professional or not? As long as there is one majority group making this decision for all, we will always continue to suppress one's culture, creativity, and individual expression.?

3. Seen, Not Heard

This framework is a big one and is especially prevalent among Black and Caribbean households. My aunties would recount stories of how they were parented when a child who can sit quietly, be still, listen obediently, and be helpful to adults is considered worthy of praise. It was the way parents knew how to instill in their child to always listen to authority, and never talk back or draw negative attention to yourself because it can cost you your life. This becomes an effective survival strategy in a toxic workplace where you can be punished for speaking up or not upholding the status quo. But today, the sad fact is that Black women are targeted in the workplace far more than our counterparts so the new survival is to speak up and defend ourselves. As Fulton County District Attorney Fani Willis, showed us this week, we cannot afford to remain silent while our leadership is picked apart . Companies must foster psychologically safe environments where employees especially Black women especially those who struggle with the ‘seen and not heard’ programming can feel encouraged to speak up without fearing punishment.?

It’s up to employers to be more conscious of the cultures they are building and map out better ways to be inclusive so that Black women can thrive. Healing from the emotional wear and tear that assimilation brings is an inside job and an essential one if we are to reverse the trauma of code-switching. Over to you. In what ways have you had to code-switch at work? What steps can you take today to embody more of your authentic self in your work life? Let us know in the comments!

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