Opinion: Venture capitalists need to take stock of reality after all the blitzscaling.
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Saturday, October 19, 2019
Friday, October 18, 2019
Black Women in the Workplace Are Still Finding Their Footing on the Corporate Ladder
As educated and ambitious as black women in the workplace are, an alarming number of women working in corporate America are not matriculating from entry-level to managerial roles—and ultimately the C-suite.
That is what LeanIn.Org and McKinsey & Co. identify as the “Broken Rung” in the fifth year of the Women in the Workplace report on the state of women in corporate America. The Broken Rung refers to the first step up to manager as the biggest obstacle women face on the path to leadership.
From lower wages to microaggressions, black women can’t catch a break at work. Despite opposition, 29% of black women surveyed expressed interest in pursuing executive roles. While black women are represented in the numbers, their progress is minute in comparison to their non-white counterparts. Simply put, black women are still getting their footing on the corporate ladder.
“Repairing the broken rung is the key to creating significantly more leadership opportunities for women,” Kevin Sneader, global managing partner of McKinsey & Co. says. “Taking this single action can have an outsized impact. Over the next five years, this can add 1 million additional women managers.”
Key findings about black women in the workplace:
- Women of color make up 4% of the C-suite. Only 1 in 25 women in the C-suite identify as women of color although women make up 21% of the C-suite.
- “Only” women are having a worse experience than other women. About 1 in 5 women say they are often an “only,” and this experience is twice as likely for senior-level women and women in technical roles. These women are far more likely to experience microaggressions than men and women who have other women on their teams. Moreover, they are nearly twice as likely to have been sexually harassed at some point in their careers.
- Microaggressions can have a macro impact if they go unchecked. From having their judgment challenged to being overlooked or being mistaken for someone at a more junior level, women are far more likely to experience this everyday discrimination. While 73% of women and 59% of men have experienced at least one type of microaggression, these everyday slights are more common for women.
- Women’s experiences vary based on race and identity. As companies focus on their culture, it’s important to understand that not all women are having the same experience at work. Women of color, lesbian and bisexual women, and women with disabilities are having distinct—and by and large worse—experiences than women overall. Black women in the workplace and women with disabilities face more barriers to advancement and often receive less support than other groups of women and men. These findings reinforce how important it is for companies to understand the challenges different groups of women face and address them head-on.
- Sponsorship can open doors—and employees need more of it. Fewer than half of the employees at the manager level or higher serve as sponsors, and only 1 in 3 employees say they have a sponsor—and this is equally true for women and men. While there is room for improvement, sponsorship is trending in the right direction—just a year ago, a quarter of employees reported having a sponsor.
Equality is the best policy
Sheryl Sandberg, Facebook Inc.’s chief operating officer and the founder of LeanIn.Org, weighed in on the report for the Wall Street Journal and says that the gender gap is bad business.
“No business in the world can succeed without hiring and promoting good employees, and when the numbers are this lopsided, many talented women are being overlooked.”
The report also reveals that “For every 100 men promoted or hired into manager roles, only 72 women are promoted or hired to manager. Largely because of this, men hold 62% of manager-level positions, while women hold just 38%. As a result, there are less women to advance to higher levels. So despite seeing hiring and promotion rates improve for senior women, women, as a whole, can never catch up.” The report is based on data and insights from 329 companies employing more than 13 million people and more than 68,500 employees in the nation.
In addition to those facts and figures, the wealth gap has widened for black women. And if the unique issues persist, it could take black women 106 years to receive equal pay.
So, what’s the solution? Fairness, unbiased training, clear paths to leadership, executive coaching, and sponsorship are some of them. Ultimately, companies have to work diligently to create fair and opportunistic work environments for all women.
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Rep. Elijah Cummings, Donald Trump relations soured amid House investigations
By DARLENE SUPERVILLE Associated Press
WASHINGTON (AP) — Rep. Elijah Cummings said somebody once told him he would see one guy when he sat down with President Donald Trump “and then you might see another guy” the next day.
Cummings eventually saw that other side of Trump — the one who called the longtime Baltimore-area congressman a “brutal bully” and his district a “disgusting, rat and rodent infested mess.” That was after the burly Cummings, as chairman of the House Oversight and Reform Committee, angrily berated a Homeland Security official at a congressional hearing on the administration’s policy of separating migrant families at the southern border.
Cummings, who died Thursday at age 68 of complications from chronic health issues, refused to respond in kind. Instead, he invited Trump to come see the district for himself.
Trump on Thursday had nothing but praise for Cummings, tweeting that he was a “highly respected” leader whose voice “will be very hard, if not impossible, to replace.” He ordered that U.S. flags fly at half-staff through Friday out of respect for the congressman.
Relations between the veteran Democratic lawmaker and the Republican political newcomer seemed to get off to a positive start just a few weeks after Trump took office.
The two met in the Oval Office in March 2017 to discuss legislation Cummings and other lawmakers planned to offer to help lower prescription drug prices, an interest the two men shared. Cummings told reporters afterward that the issue had come up when he ran into Trump at the president’s inaugural lunch in January and they agreed to talk more.
Trump was “enthusiastic” about the proposal, Cummings said, and Trump tweeted about the “Great discussion!” they’d had. A White House statement said Trump had expressed to Cummings his interest in working in a “bipartisan fashion” to help make prescription drugs more affordable.
But the relationship collapsed after the drug proposal stalled, voters put Democrats in control of the House in the 2018 elections and Cummings, in his new role as chairman, ramped up oversight of a White House that had faced scant scrutiny when Republicans ran the chamber.
At the time of his death, Cummings was among the House committee chairmen leading an impeachment inquiry Trump has denounced as “witch hunt.”
On its own, Cummings’ committee was examining conflict-of-interest issues involving Trump’s hotel in Washington and family members serving in the White House. It also was looking into how the White House, and Trump, approved security clearances, including for Trump’s son-in-law, Jared Kushner.
The committee also heard testimony from Michael Cohen, Trump’s former personal attorney, a key figure in federal law enforcement probes of potential coordination between Russia and Trump’s campaign, and campaign finance violations involving hush money paid to women who said they had had intimate relationships with Trump. Trump has denied those relationships.
Cummings had also reviewed the administration’s treatment of migrant children after they were separated from adults who brought them to the border.
Rep. Brenda Lawrence, D-Mich., who served on Cummings’ committee, said the chairman believed in his constitutional responsibility to keep watch over the executive branch.
“He was so committed to protecting our democracy,” Lawrence told The Associated Press in a telephone interview Thursday. “He did not take his role lightly.”
In response to the series of July attacks by Trump, Cummings invited the president to tour his district, from the poorest parts of the majority-black city of Baltimore to the more well-off areas in suburban Baltimore and Howard counties.
“Come to Baltimore. Do not just criticize us, but come to Baltimore and I promise you, you will be welcomed,” the lawmaker said in August in his first public comments about the president’s criticism. Trump had also complained about other cities run by Democrats he did not name. The comments were widely seen as a race-centered attack on big cities with minority populations.
Trump defended his comments, which were widely condemned, before moving on from Cummings. He also said he would visit Baltimore “at the right time.”
That turned out to be in September, when he addressed House Republicans holding their annual retreat in the city. But Trump did not meet with any city officials or otherwise tour the city while there.
In a subsequent August appearance at the National Press Club, Cummings recalled being interviewed by a newspaper reporter, who said he was Trump’s “worst nightmare.” Cummings, the son of sharecroppers who rose to become a civil rights champion and leading member of Congress, said he explained that that was not his intention.
“I said, ‘You know, I’m doing my job,'” Cummings said. “I said the president is probably a nice guy but I love my democracy. I love my country and I love my countrymen more.”
___
Follow Darlene Superville on Twitter: http://www.twitter.com/dsupervilleap
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Willow and Jaden Smith are gearing up to hit the road for concert tour
The dynamic brother and sister duo of Jaden and Willow Smith have united like ‘Wonder Twins’ to launch a North American co-headlining tour.
READ MORE: Wendy Williams celebrates her new star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame
The Willow & Erys tour kicks off on Nov. 12 at Soma in San Diego, Billboard reports.
The singer and rapper will make tour stops in Austin, Houston, Nashville, Atlanta, Philadelphia, New York, Chicago, Toronto and more.
The month-long tour will conclude Dec. 19 at the Novo in Los Angeles.
Jaden previously said he and his sister “are like a band,” comparing their artistry to hip-hop duo OutKast and their famed Speakerboxxx/The Love Below album.
“Me and Willow are like OutKast except we only ever release individual albums.” You remember how OutKast did that one album where it was like two albums? That’s me and Willow. It’s like we’re not really a band, but we kind of are. It’s Jaden and Willow, we have to have the uniform names.”
Jaden recently released a new album ERYS, along with its first single “Again,” and has been prepping to hit the road with Tyler the Creator for the IGOR tour. But even with his musical talent, the son of Hollywood royalty says “I’m not a musician. I’m an inventor. Elon Musk is my idol and I’m not gonna stop until I’m like Elon Musk.”
As previously reported by theGrio, Smith’s celebrated his 21st birthday (on July 8) by launching his I Love You mobile restaurant; a food truck servicing L.A.’s Skid Row district. Back in March Smith’s foundation made headlines for helping bring clean water to Flint, Michigan by deploying a mobile water filtration system known as “The Water Box” that reduces lead and other potential contaminants.
READ MORE: Nivea says Lauren London became her friend when the two were pregnant
In his interview with Complex, Smith also explained why he dropped his last name on music streaming services.
“You want to know why? Because Willow’s name is “just Willow.” And everything is a character. I feel like I had to separate the things that I do as different characters,” he explains.
Tickets are on sale now for the Willow & Erys tour. Check out a full list of dates below.
Willow & Erys Tour Dates:
Nov 12 — San Diego, CA @ SOMA
Nov 13 — Tempe, AZ @ Marquee
Nov 16 — Austin, TX @ Emo’s
Nov 17 — San Antonio, TX @ Aztec Theatre
Nov 18 — Houston, TX @ Warehouse Live
Nov 20 — Nashville, TN @ Cannery Ballroom
Nov 21 — Raleigh, NC @ The Ritz
Nov 22 — Atlanta, GA @ Tabernacle
Nov 24 — Washington, DC @ Echostage
Nov 25 — Philadelphia, PA @ The Fillmore
Nov 26 — New York, NY @ Terminal 5
Nov 30 — Chicago, IL @ Riviera Theater
Dec 1 — Royal Oak, MI @ Royal Oak Music Theatre
Dec 3 — Toronto, ON @ Rebel Complex
Dec 6 — Denver, CO @ The Paramount Theater
Dec 8 — Las Vegas, NV @ House of Blues
Dec 9 — Anaheim, CA @ City National Grove
Dec 10 — San Francisco, CA @ The Warfield
Dec 19 — Los Angeles, CA @ Novo
xxx
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New York Comic Con becomes a welcome home for Black nerds
With movies like Spider-Man: Into the Spider-Verse, and Black Panther having multi-million dollar box office results, families across the nations are becoming more familiar with Black superheroes on their screens, and in their lives. From comic books to the big screen, characters like Miles Morales, the first Black Spider-Man, have been around for a while. Yet, a majority of the heroes we are familiar with are white, much like the perceived nerd demographic.
Well, contrary to popular belief, there really is a Black nerd culture. The best place to confirm this was at New York City’s Javits Center for Comic Con 2019, the holy grail of fan conventions for nerds of all kinds. TheGrio was on hand to find and celebrate the glory of other Blerds through cosplayers, comic book creators, photographers and publishers to understand why this Black nerd culture if finally getting its just dues.
Let’s start with the great art of Cosplay, the act of dressing in the likeness of a fictional character. Leigh “Dr.Law” Willis is a photographer who runs a cosplay photography service that focuses on Black cosplayers at Comic Con’s across the country. Willis has made it his duty to photograph Black cosplayers after witnessing the way they were excluded.
“I used to go to Cons and I honestly would see a lot of photographers not really want to take photos of Black [cosplayers] at all because they weren’t ‘canon,'” said Willis. “Why shouldn’t they have nice photographs of themselves too?”
In order for something to be ‘canon,’ it has to be considered authentic among fans, as part of a story line. For example, Miles Morales being from New York City is considered canon, as opposed to him being from California. If you want to cosplay Morales as a surfer, that’s fine, just know that while it may be a valid cosplay, it’s just not canon.
READ MORE: Black Panther’ Cheat Sheet: 11 things you should know before Friday’s premiere
Visibility is very important for Blerd culture, if they aren’t seen then how will they know there are others like them?
For Kaylah Oglesby, cosplaying as Kim Possible made NYCC her second con. Her experience during a themed “dress up like at character day, “at her private school revealed another problem Blerds often face: Inclusion.
“They’re all Disney princesses, like Marvel heroes, and you show up like a Black Leia, you’re not usually the coolest girl in class after that,” said Oglesby. “It was kind of weird for me because I didn’t see myself as Black Leia.”
Kaylah’s experience is why Black people need to be represented in their own spaces, and its why Black characters featured in their own movies, shows, and even animes are also becoming more recognizable.
“I don’t think Black Panther would have been like a billion dollar success without Black people,” said Erika Hardison, publisher and founder of Fabulize Magazine.
“I believe that we can produce creators and we can produce comics and books and novels without censoring anyone else but ourselves.”
READ MORE: Black Captain America leads comic book diversity
Independent examples of this do exist. Manuel Godoy, is the President of Black Sands Entertainment, a publishing company that features a comic book with Black characters for Black children and families.
Godoy has witnessed first hand the the power of the Black community when we galvanize to support Black content creators.
“The whole idea of the Black community don’t got money and stuff like that. That’s nonsense,” he said.”Whenever I did a Kickstarter, people came out, and they came hard. Some people were dropping $1,000 to $2,000 on a campaign themselves, just because they were feeling it.”
READ MORE: Comic book genius Stan Lee, Spider-Man creator, dies at 95
Godoy has been successful at creating content for, and being supported by the Black community. His comics, books and novels all feature Black families, and will soon be part of their own animated series.
“We don’t need to pander to the general audience in order to be successful,” said Godoy.
The community exists and it is thriving, but it needs a different kind of support from the Black community that goes beyond just buying a Black Panther t-shirt. Support independent comics, support cosplayers, and support Black content creators. Together we can elevate the culture.
Kiana Matthews-Quinonez is a freelance production assistant at theGrio. She’s a recent graduate of the
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Shonda Rhimes’ Shondaland Signs Podcast Deal with iHeartRadio
According to The New York Times, Scandal and Grey’s Anatomy creator Shonda Rhimes has signed a lucrative podcast deal. Rhimes’ production company, Shondaland, has inked a deal to create a new slate of podcasts for iHeartRadio over the next three years.
“Podcasting continues to see tremendous growth and I’m excited to partner with iHeartMedia as Shondaland expands its storytelling journey into this medium which has seemed to usher in a unique sense of boldness, intimacy, and connection,” Rhimes said in a statement. “With iHeartMedia we aim to share stories that are engaging, insightful, and reflect a robust world-view while staying true to the authentic storytelling voice that has become synonymous with Shondaland.”
“Shonda Rhimes is one of the greatest storytellers of our time,” said Conal Byrne, president of the iHeartPodcast Network. “We’re honored that she’s chosen the iHeartPodcast Network to extend her storytelling craft to audio, bringing a massive slate of new original podcasts to the world. With our unparalleled reach across multiple platforms, we can’t wait to introduce the incredibly engaging and brilliant Shondaland podcasts to millions of listeners.”
Shondaland is the pioneering storytelling company founded by award-winning writer and producer Rhimes. The company has produced the television series Grey’s Anatomy, Private Practice, Scandal, How To Get Away With Murder, For The People and Station 19 for ABC. Through the company’s unprecedented shift to streaming, it is producing content exclusively for Netflix including upcoming series Bridgerton, Inventing Anna and Notes on Love. In recent years the company has expanded into other divisions including launching the website Shondaland.com, part of the Hearst Digital Networks, and Shondaland Audio, part of the iHeartPodcast Network. The company is rooted in the ideals of creating content that changes culture, changes perceptions, and writes the future.
“Our fans have been dedicated to the Shondaland brand in a big way for many years, and similar to when we launched our website Shondaland.com with Hearst Digital Networks, we definitely see this as a brand extension,” Rhimes said on her website, Shondaland.com. “We know our fans well and we’re hopeful they will continue this journey with us in the audio space. Shondaland has always had a history of sharing compelling stories that reflect the full range of the human experience so we’re confident that the new voices and concepts we’re considering will excite our fans and general podcast listeners.”
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Lee Merritt critiques DA in charge of Atatiana Jefferson case
Civil Rights attorney Lee Merritt blasted the Tarrant County District Attorney (DA) Sharen Wilson and called her “a racist,” who he believes can’t effectively handle the investigation involving a white Fort Worth cop who killed a Black woman, Atatiana Jefferson.
READ MORE: Mom, who lied about her white son’s race to get into college, goes to jail
On Tuesday Merritt criticized Wilson for what he believes are past indiscretions that serve as evidence that she’s biased against Black women.
Case in point: Wilson is the same DA who jailed a Black woman Crystal Mason for voting illegally in an election even though she was a felon and didn’t realize it was against her rights.
“We do know this district attorney,” Merritt said. “Her name is Sharen Wilson. She’s the woman responsible for sentencing a black woman to five years in prison for voting in the last election–a young woman named Crystal Mason,” he said during a Tuesday interview with SiriusXM’s Joe Madison.
Earlier this year Mason was sentenced to 10 months in prison for voting in the 2016 Presidential election, which violated the terms of her release for a felony conviction. Mason was convicted of a felony and unbeknownst to her, the past criminal record prohibited her from voting.
Even though Mason’s vote wasn’t even counted, Wilson’s office still pushed to prosecute her.
“I call Sharen Wilson the Bull Connor of our generation. She is a bad district attorney and she is a racist, quite frankly. And it concerns that this case is landing in her lap. I’m hoping that the Department of Justice will step in and prosecute this case on their own.”
Wilson has been charged with leading the case investigation.
Jefferson reportedly heard noises in her backyard. Her nephew recalled that it was so concerning for her that she grabbed her gun from out of her purse to defend herself, and “pointed it toward a window.” Former Fort Worth cop Aaron was creeping around out back and shot Jefferson through the window. She died at the scene.
READ MORE: ‘The Squad’ members reportedly plan to endorse Bernie Sanders’ 2020 run
“We’re nowhere close to being concluded that this officer is even going to be formally charged with murder,” Merritt told Madison. “There’s still so much more work to do in this case.”
While Dean was charged with murder, currently his case is presented to a grand jury. There’s no assurance that he will be indicted though.
Check out more of what Merritt had to say below
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