Last week’s blog post touched on a subject matter that I knew was sensitive to share, but the positive responses to it inspired me to dig a little deeper for this week’s subject matter.
In my work both as the founder of ShiftED and co-founder of the Authentically Me Fellowship, women of color is a term that I use regularly. Created by and meant to express the solidarity between women of color, the term signals our collective experiences of oppression.
But in the times that we’re living in, is solidarity even possible anymore?
Our communities are under attack, and we already know the playbook. They will try to divide us—pitting us against one another, making us believe that our struggles are disconnected, and shifting the blame away from the real culprit: White Supremacy. They will use scarcity to convince us that only a select few of us can succeed, that progress for some must come at the expense of others. Now more than ever, we must resist this manufactured division and stand in solidarity—not just in theory, but in action. True power lies in our collective strength, in refusing to let oppression dictate how we show up for one another.
Anti-Blackness, colorism, and racism are tools of the oppressor
The workplace is a replica of how anti-Blackness and racism function in the world at large– and those beliefs of internalized racism and racial oppression don’t get turned off when women of color step into their office’s doors or log on for their workday.
If we take anything from this moment in history, let it be this: White Supremacy Culture in America exists to protect the power of rich, straight, white men. Aligning with that system may offer feelings of temporary safety, but it is an illusion. Blackness is not the enemy—never has been, never will be.
In 1963, El-Hajj Malik El-Shabazz warned that America’s chickens were coming home to roost. Today, we are watching that prophecy unfold in real time. Asian students who fought against affirmative action, believing that Black students were taking “their” spots in elite universities, are now seeing the harsh reality—without affirmative action, Asian student admissions have declined as well. We allowed DEI to be weaponized, twisted into a slur, and now veterans, white women, and white disabled folks are waking up to the truth: DEI was never just about Black people—it was protecting them, too. Yet, when policies that promote equity are under attack, Black people remain the first and easiest scapegoat because anti-Blackness is baked into the fabric of this nation. But here’s the hard truth: throwing Black people under the bus will never buy you freedom. Aligning with White Supremacy Culture may feel like self-preservation in the moment, but it will never be a pathway to true liberation.
This moment requires more than passive awareness—it demands action, accountability, and a willingness to dismantle the systems that harm us all. We cannot afford to fall for the same old divide-and-conquer tactics. If we are serious about creating a future where all women of color thrive, we must first recognize that our fights are interconnected.
Colorism further deepens these divides, allowing those closer to whiteness to access greater privileges while darker-skinned women face harsher scrutiny. When women of color internalize these biases, we replicate the very systems that have been used to oppress us. This isn’t just a moral failing—it’s a betrayal of our collective liberation.
Women of color can recognize our unique experiences and how our histories of oppression can unite us
While all women of color experience oppression, the ways we experience it are nuanced. To build solidarity and trust with one another, we must make space for those differences while understanding the interconnectedness of our struggles. The harms that capitalism and White Supremacy Culture have inflicted on Black, Indigenous, Latino, and Asian women are not identical—but they stem from the same playbook.
Too often, the corporate world pits women of color against each other, forcing us to compete for the illusion of limited space. But what if we rejected that scarcity mindset? What if we recognized that we are stronger together?
This isn’t a call for all women of color to come together and sing kumbaya or have a ‘We Are the World’ moment, but it is a challenge to begin uniting around our common interests of dismantling White Supremacy Culture brick by brick.
The case for culturally-relevant professional development programs is even stronger
For women of color to successfully share power and sit at the table with one another– because there’s more than enough room for us all– we first have to interrogate how we’re personally upholding tenets of White Supremacy Culture. Whether it’s acting as if we don’t see the mistreatment that other women of color on our team experience to protect our own good standing, or replicating the biases we’ve seen inflicted on darker skinned women, we each have an individual responsibility to uproot this culture within ourselves first.
It’s all the more reason for companies to invest in culturally-relevant professional development programs like the Authentically Me Fellowship, that can hold space for the individual and collective needs that women of color have when attempting to navigate the corporate world. Predominantly White spaces have the ability to impact the self-belief and competence of any woman of color, but we can combat that by providing them with the tools to define their authentic selves and show up more confidently at work.
If you’re ready to begin your journey, schedule a consultation with ShiftED today.
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