Diverse Women: Bringing your whole self?
Kinship #26

Diverse Women: Bringing your whole self?

Bringing your whole self?

This question about “bringing your whole self” to work is an interesting one for diverse women in corporate.

I have experienced a lot of fear standing in my fullness, which I often dance with depending on the spaces I occupy.?

Diverse women are treated differently because in part we must prove our competence again and again!

For those part of the ‘in group’ they are presumed to be competent, and therefore don’t need to prove themselves.

Hence, it’s difficult not to face judgment or barriers being our authentic self, especially if we do not recognise that success still looks white, male and middle class.

What does it matter?
If we operate in masculine or female energies, this is who I am!

In an ideal world, I'd love to think that this male energy is no longer a thing. But, unfortunately it is and your success will be measured against this standard.


3 mannerisms to quickly help you navigate this energy

Sadly, we are all likely to have to navigate racism, bias and stereotypes….as we figure out how to succeed and achieve in the workplace.

This month in Kinship we explored male and female energies to increase our impact as diverse women in the corporate space. Read Part 1 here

These three simple mannerism will help you to avoid clashing with the dominant male energy in your workplace and increase your influence quickly;

  1. Avoid interruptingNEVER be afraid to speak your mind! Interrupting or cutting off others to speak first is never welcomed in any discussions. And, it is easy to retaliate especially when it keeps happening. But, WAITING to speak will allow you to deliver your message with more power and have a much BIGGER impact!
  2. Tone of voice – Tone of voice is proven to have greater impact in communication than the words you use. If you are delivering a difficult message or something that is controversial, be mindful of your tone. Soft and gentle forces the audience to pay greater attention!
  3. Hand Movements – I often speak with my hands, it is an expression of my soul!!! I am passionate about what I do, so can easily become super animated. However, when I am communicating to a group that do not look or sound like me. I am mindful that these hand movements maybe too distracting and prevents my message landing with the gravitas I desire.

Try to avoid these distractions to increase your impact!

Kinship is a Safe Space for diverse women. I created this space so we could show up authentically, without fear, judgement or censorship.

We welcome plenty of loud, soulful expression, accompanied with lots of hand movements!!

If this touches your soul and you are a stand up, diverse women, rocking your sphere of influence or desiring to have a greater impact.

Let's talk, book a free 30 minute discovery call?here

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Better Mental Health -?UK's Top 15 ?Health Podcast

We explore why getting my name right matters? And, 4 Tips to stop you mispronouncing a name & how to recover if you do!

The everyday conversation to inspire?Better Mental health. UK's Top 15 Health Podcast. Listen?here

Bitesize weekly content!

We hope you have enjoyed it. See you next week x

PS If you want to hang out.?Kinship is a Safe Space for Diverse Women. It is the FIRST FRIDAY EVERY MONTH!

The first Friday of each month to explore the intersectionality of Race & Mental Health

Join us. Please register?here

Caroline Ribeiro-Nelson

??Tapping my unique "Diverse Mental Health" approach supporting implement strategies that create mentally healthy cultures ?Optimise professional personal performance ?Build constructive work dynamics

2 年

Thank you Marteka Swaby for sharing this powerful and insightful piece

Chemeli Maina

I press on toward the goal to win the prize for which God has called me heavenward in Christ Jesus - Philippians 3:14.

2 年

Reflecting on this, interesting post

Jameka Williams

Higher Ed Marketing #GoBulls|Content & Strategy #FaithInFl| Performance and Visual Art| World Explorer

2 年

Taking notes. Once again!

Adam C. Michels

Owner, Certified Radon Technologies

2 年

Most folks in the USA are white.

Julia Heubeck

Transformative & Personal Development Coaching

2 年

My gut churns when I read a sentence like “does success still look… in your work place.” White, male, middle class has led the rest of the world to believe that the definition of success is a mix of power and money. If everyone continues to adapt this idea then we are chasing exactly what we have been tought to. If you go by the dictionary definition of success it is merely a “achieving a desired outcome”. We can redefine what success looks like for ourselves. If you define authenticity in the workplace as a desireable outcome then surely there are very few middle class white males achieving success in the workplace.

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