Working While Black: A Woman's Guide to Stop Being the Best Kept Secret

Book excerpt: Black women are the highest educated group of employees in the workforce, but continue to earn $0.67 for every dollar a White man earns. And only two Black women hold the coveted position of CEO on the Fortune 500 list. If they are doing all of the right things based on what they are told is required to earn career success, why are they being left behind? In Working While Black: A Woman's Guide To Stop Being the Best Kept Secret, Dr. Tana M. Session explains that many of the unfortunate disadvantages faced by Black women are actually the reasons why Black women are also the largest and fastest-growing group of entrepreneurs. They are opting out of a system that was not built for them to succeed. Her candid stories of Black women in this book from multiple backgrounds and industries give a behind-the-curtain view of what typically happens to Black women along their corporate career track, But it doesn't end with this empowering stories of success against the backdrop of adversities. Dr. Session also provides strategies for what it takes to Stop Being the Best Kept Secret(R) under the prescriptive captions of: Own Your Power, Own Your Truth, Own Your Healing, Own Your Worth and Own Your Destiny. Readers will gain innovative tools to help avoid corporate landmines while gaining sponsors and allies along the way. Dr. Tana M. Session personally experienced these landmines. She felt like she was the only one and often felt very alone. Through sharing these experiences with close friends and family, and becoming a performance coach for Black women, she learned that their stories were also her story. Through her work, she has gained the advocacy of other influential and successful women who trusted her to tell their stories for others to learn from as they grow in their careers and businesses.