Getting fired on International Women’s Day

Five years ago I stared at an email I knew was coming, but not one I expected on IWD. A month prior, I’d been pulled into my boss’s office (also the CEO) and was placed on administrative leave for doing something - it wasn’t shared with me before I was ushered out of the office. Board and staff were alerted within minutes, the kind of efficiency that signaled that this day had been in the planning.?

In the month between being placed on leave and the email letting me know I was fired for breaking an unknown policy in the employee handbook, I lost my hair and dropped to a sz 4 for the first time since the 4th grade.?

Just as I was about to be swallowed up in a tsunami of shame, my peers and people I had never met came to my rescue.?

The organization got dozens, perhaps hundreds of letters and emails from other women who had witnessed/experienced racism, marginalization and exclusion at the hands of the CEO. Less than a year after my exit, the CEO left for new adventures and the organization shut its doors.?

A month after getting fired (that word still makes me feel icky) I landed a great gig building PFML programs funded by Melinda Gate’s Pivotal Ventures, and a year later, I had been featured in Forbes - twice - for a startup that uplifted women of color at work. And in 2021 my company hit 7 figures in revenue - one of just 2% of women-owned businesses to hit that figure (in their lifetime).?

Five years ago, I didn’t think I would see today.?

So here’s my invitation, a challenge even - show up for the women in your life. ?

1. Support the quiet ones making magic behind the scenes. Trust me, they want the promotion, the stretch assignment.?
2. Back the troublemakers. The ones putting themselves on the line to make work better for everyone (well, everyone that’s been underestimated for far too long). ?
3. Listen to the whistleblowers. They are the canary in the calming, and the ones that are going to save you from big messy lawsuits in the future.?
4. Give a chance to the one without the fancy degrees, the one who lacks the polish you think is so important. They will outperform their peers with a degree in Peace Studies from Yale most days.?
5. Make room at the table for anyone that’s the first and the only. Just because they haven’t been there, doesn’t mean they don’t deserve to be there.?

Show up when things are messy, and when acting with integrity isn’t simple or easy.?I get to be here today because so many have shown up for me.?