Third Expanse | Part 1: On Work & Professional Life

This is a 3 part series of two friends who are navigating climbing the corporate ladder, advocacy and living their best lives on their terms. 

Mayase is a Senior Delivery Lead, Writer and Podcast host and you all know me as an Employer Brand Manager, Writer and DEI & Work Culture Advocate. We were brought together by an employer a few years back and have stayed sisters because of our love of storytelling, dance, music, technology and most of all our African roots.

Putting this series together started with anger and frustration about recurring global events and various social justice issues. Thankfully, it has evolved into a space of courage and truth sharing. We hope you gain courage to share your stories and engage in robust conversation about navigating the third expanse “creating space between spaces”. 

A quote we like by Toni Morrison:

"The very serious function of racism … is distraction. It keeps you from doing your work. It keeps you explaining, over and over again, your reason for being. Somebody says you have no language and so you spend 20 years proving that you do. Somebody says your head isn’t shaped properly so you have scientists working on the fact that it is. Somebody says that you have no art so you dredge that up. Somebody says that you have no kingdoms and so you dredge that up. None of that is necessary."

PART 1: ON WORK & PROFESSIONAL LIFE

Has anything changed for you, as a black woman at work? 

Mayase: I was in a meeting the other day and wondered what it would be like not to be a black woman at work. How would I turn up to those Zoom meetings? I figured I would not care too much when I heard people’s names butchered only for them to smile because they are tired of correcting people. Turns out I would still have a glass ceiling to break, working twice as hard to show my capabilities and fighting to join the boys CTO ‘club’. It just seems not to be fun to be another woman since I will lose the fun of switching hairstyles and people not knowing how long my hair is. I resolved there was no point fantasising about not being black unless I was going to be a white man. Honestly, being comfortable and finding power in my blackness is a daily grind. I do wish it was easier but I know in this life I just have to be so my nieces feel less tired of the wholesome burden we carry in western countries. People try to shorten my name. I stopped making it easy for them years back when I gave up using my nickname in the workplace. I figured we can all learn to pronounce strange names so I am educating everyone on how to pronounce 3 syllables. 

My manager is great though. I wish I had him at the beginning of my career. He is the type of person that is going to take me places I think. I worry about my sisters who don’t have managers highlighting their shine because we can never hide in the shadows. Life has molded us to strive harder because otherwise we can never find the first step on the ladder to wherever the hell top management sits.

Fiona: Yes and no. I read a tweet by a working black woman the other day that stayed with me because of how precise it was. She said: 

"...I think the narrative needs to change from giving us a voice to getting out of our way…” 

That’s all.

Describe being a black woman at work in a metaphor 

Mayase: It is like being an antelope in the Serengeti surrounded by a lion pride. Not that people at work are going to eat you, but there is nowhere to hide. Everyone sees you and some days you just want to be the lion. People say you think about it too much. Stop seeing yourself as an antelope and you will leap through. What do they know? They have never been antelopes.

Fiona: It’s like trying to catch a commuter taxi in Kampala. Sometimes you have to ‘get in there’ because you have to get to work. Other times, it's just wiser to wait and observe other passengers, until the time is right to get on the next one.True power is sitting back and observing everything with logic. True power is restraint. Breathe and allow things to pass. Be like plants. Observe and just keep growing

Image by @coilyandcute

Is your work and professional social capital judged based on intangible things like code switching?

Mayase: I have always craved friends but never been good at making them. I’m less shy than I used to be but making friends is still not a thing I do easily. I mean I can laugh at 90’s RnB checkered shirts and baggy jeans, how we were banned from watching ‘Channel O’ or that Zambian artist who was the worst dancer I mean how can you be black and not dance but no one knows any of those stories. I didn’t grow up in the Eastern or Western suburbs and don't care much about their classist jibes so I hear the stories don’t find them funny as colleagues roll on the floor with their Aussiness.

Fiona: I think so. And I’ve learned to navigate it better.  I don’t think I’d get the same level of respect if I was to say what I really thought during crucial conversations. I simply don’t have the luxury to do so. I can’t be careless or carefree with my words when speaking to clients or new people I’m meeting in a professional setting. There’s a thin line between being firm and being stereotyped as the ‘angry black woman’. Also, I’m not sure they’d handle it. So, I keep it classy when I need to, and other times, I stay quiet.

Do you ever feel like you’re dimming your light to fit in?

Mayase: It has taken me years to find my light and love it. I don’t think I was ever afraid of it, I just didn’t know how to acknowledge it. I bought into what everyone else thought it was. When speaking my truth wow even I get amazed at how bright I shine. What dims my light is sometimes I get tired of shining the light on people’s ignorance. Don’t get me wrong there is so much I don’t know but willful ignorance that peeves me and am so tired of being the person to champion things, and correct people, and acknowledge and feel the pain of minorities will other its never even on their radars. So my light gets dim lighting others up and not replenishing. 

Fiona: Sometimes. It’s been too bright for some so I’m still learning to accept that it's safe to shine it. Adjusting the light has taken a toll, but I always remind myself that I deserve to take up space unapologetically. As Maya Angelou eloquently put it:

Will we ever close the ethnicity pay gap?

Mayase: Not in my lifetime. I mean obviously you can tell that I am such an optimist right? There will always be people who are underpaid and overworked. I want to move from that hamster wheel to doing the work and expecting to be rewarded for it to know my worth so that no one will ever short change me.  I am hopeful for my nieces, daughters, sons, nephews holding positions of power and influence in all works of life. I don't know If I will live to see it but I do hope I can be an example they follow through and I will be watching over them rejoicing. 

Fiona: I mean...the wheels are turning at a painfully slow rate…but I’m holding out hope for my children and the younger generation. The thing is, we still have to work twice as hard to get half as much. We’re accustomed to doing more with less. Advocating for yourself as a person of color is generally still an uphill battle because the goal posts keep shifting. That said, pity parties never did us any good, so I’m doing the work to walk the talk and teach those that will come after me how to become exceptional at what they do, so that they can speak up for themselves.

Look out for part two of Third Expanse titled ‘On Societal Norms and Expectations’