Salary Negotiation for Womxn of Color in Seattle #FutureForUs

Today, I am excited to announce that I will be leading a monthly series of salary negotiation classes geared for women of color professionals for Future for Us, a growing 5,000+ womxn of color/ally community platform dedicated to advancing womxn of color at work. 

The first class kicks off this Wednesday, August 21st at General Assembly Seattle. Check out the class here and learn how you could get money in your paycheck.

As an ambitious Latina, first- generation college graduate, now turned non- profit leader, I soon became passionate myself about pay equity when I found out that in my first non- profit job out of college I was making 15K less than my other three co-workers at the organization, with the same level of education and experience - simply because I did not ask for a higher salary and raise. It broke my soul to find out this information so I became educated. It was a significant learning lesson in the world of work, but in that moment, right then and there, I know I needed to learn the art of negotiation and arm myself with this skill to be able to secure myself financial future.

This experience also brought me to moment years ago when I presented my first offer letter to my parents and my father saying, “Melanie, you should be grateful. It took me ten years to make this type of money.” This is coming from my fifty -six year old Mexican father who started making six dollars an hour, thirty years ago, who didn’t realize the structure of salaries - let alone safe working conditions. 

However, my story isn’t unique or unfamiliar because I know some of you, especially the people of color/women of color, who are reading this understands that exact moment all too well. In communities, or even in college, we are not taught about salaries, worker benefits, and/or the pay gap. Instead we are taught theories and not action. So I aim to change this by providing access to monthly salary negotiation classes with my valuable strategies and tips, in partnership with Future for Us. 

Learning how to negotiate helped me to get a job, helped me get a raise and helped me get a promotion, helped me purchase my first home, and ultimately helped me pay off my student loan debt. Learn my tips and strategies by rsvping here - see you there!