The Office Politics Nobody Mentions: Navigating Microaggressions with Your Sanity Intact. Part 1

Why

I've been in the business for 20-plus years. Time really does fly. This is the first installment of a three-part series, and here's why it exists: we've all experienced some form of microaggression in the workplace. Sometimes it can be so overwhelming that it keeps you from doing your actual job. It was during the Black Lives Matter movement when people from all industries started sharing their stories, and honestly, it blew my mind. For the longest time, I thought it was me. I needed to continuously change, to please those who would never accept my authenticity. I believed the gaslighting. But when friends in medical, finance, and entertainment came forward, it brought us closer together. Community is key. The moment I realized I wasn't the only one, my perspective started to change. There are just some things I can't change no matter how much I try.

It's important to me that this series isn't about blaming, shaming or a specific person/company, but rather finding solutions on how to cope.

Face it: racism, prejudice or bias isn't our problem, but it is our collective daily experience. The purpose here is to share what i've learned and tools I've used to cope in hopes that someone will benefit from it. Think of this as the guide I wish someone had handed me on day one preferably with a strong cup of coffee and a warning label.

Know Your Intent

In Cicely Tyson's memoir Just As I Am, she drops some wisdom that's stuck with me: Embrace your personal worth. She encouraged Black individuals, particularly women, to recognize their inherent greatness and value, and not to be swayed by those who try to diminish them. She wrote, "You got to know you are worth it."

She also stressed knowing your history and background as a source of strength and self-assurance. She advised people seeking change to "hold on to what you believe in" and not let matters contrary to those beliefs discourage forward movement. She believed that Black artists and audiences should focus on work that "elevated the race" rather than conforming to white America's worst cultural assumptions and stereotypes.

I believe it's important to identify your intent for being in any workplace. That can be anything from working to pay your bills, climbing the corporate ladder, or keeping yourself in cool kicks (my personal favorite). Here's something that might be controversial: work should never be your passion.

My reasoning? Something you're passionate about should be yours, your safe space where you can create at your own pace. That can be anything you want. Meanwhile, at work, you walk in and focus on what you're paid to do. It's about making money. This type of thinking helps you not take things too personally. Your passions are about feelings. Business is not. When you separate the two, microaggressions lose some of their power because you've already established that these people don't define your worth or your joy they're just part of the transaction that funds your actual life.