What Women of Color Need to Know to Secure a Seat at the Table w/ Minda Harts

Black women exist in corporate America and the more we talk about, advocate, and acknowledge them and their differences, the better their experience will be. Minda Harts is here to talk about how black women can be their own advocates to advance in their life and career. Minda Harts is the CEO of The Memo LLC, a career development platform for women of color. She's written the best-selling book, The Memo: What Women of Color Need to Know to Secure a Seat at the Table, full of career advice for women to climb the ranks in their jobs. While Minda started losing her self-identity at work, her desire to stop sexism in the workplace was born. The more we open the conversation about workplace politics and sexism in the workplace, the more awareness, and eventually change, we bring to the problems. For women of color especially, having that sense of belonging in the workplace is vital. It impacts everything from self-belief to job performance. Minda shares some of the secrets she's written about in The Memo about what women need to do in order to advance in business. Part of the future is about recognizing when a woman, especially a woman of color, is doing a remarkable job in their industries. Social media helps make these acknowledgments easier and more accessible. That's one of the reasons Minda is so active on social media, particularly Twitter. She's built an engaged following, community, and network who have helped further her career in a number of ways. Social media also helps women become their own personal advocates. But it's not just through social media that women can advocate for themselves. When we speak up and ask for what we want, as many of our male counterparts do, we're often surprised when we get it. Minda shares why you need to make a name for yourself at your workplace by attending social functions and putting yourself in the sight of key people who can help further your career. Do you feel like you're flying solo at work? How can you start advocating for yourself today? Have you felt like you've lost a piece of your identity at work? In This Episode: How you can lose pieces of your identity when you go into a corporate workforce Why we need to talk about workplace politics and sexism in the workplace Why having a sense of belonging in the workplace can make a difference to your job performance What you need to do in order to advance in business Why it's important to acknowledge the women, especially women of color, who are doing an exceptional job in their industries What power there is in being your own personal advocate Why you should be active on the social media platforms you enjoy to build a network Why you need to hold fast to your virtues and find the right audience for your work Quotes: "Success is not a solo sport. We can all be successful. I can help you get there faster and you can help me get there faster. Who wants to be at the table as the only one?" (7:41) "Even if I don't think I might be worth whatever the amount is in my head, I know that I'm doing myself a disservice if I don't ask for it. That's the part of the equation you get to control: What you ask for." (26:27) "One way or the other, we need to know if our companies are invested in our success and the only way to do that is to keep having those conversations and advocate for ourselves." (33:32) Links Listen to Secure the Seat, Minda's podcast Find Minda Harts Online Find Minda Harts on Twitter | LinkedIn Check out the complete episode page here Learn more about Powerful Conversations Online Find Powerful Conversations on Facebook | Twitter | Instagram | Medium