A Love Letter to the Black & Brown Women in Corporate

The truth about visibility, positioning, and owning your power in rooms not designed for you

This one is for you.

The woman who walks into every room and makes it better.

Even when the room was never designed with her in mind.

You are brilliant.

You are strategic.

You are often the quiet engine behind outcomes that move the business forward.

And today, I need you to hear something clearly.

I see you.

I see you when your idea gets repeated louder in the meeting and suddenly it sounds “more strategic.” You felt it. You clocked it. And instead of shrinking, you came back the next week and spoke again.

That is not just resilience.

That is executive composure in rooms that test you.

I see you when you say yes to the stretch assignment. When you take on the extra initiative. When you become the unofficial lead before they ever give you the title.

You believed your work would speak for itself.

No one told you that in corporate spaces, visibility and narrative often speak louder than effort.

So when they said, “You’re doing amazing, but there’s just no room in the budget,” you didn’t fall apart.

You recalibrated.

That is not desperation.

That is strategic endurance.

I see you when you become the fixer. The one they call when the project is behind. The one who can translate chaos into clarity.

You were not given the authority.

You assumed the responsibility anyway.

That is leadership.

Whether they label it or not.

And if you are navigating corporate America as a Black woman or woman of color, you know this feeling intimately. The pressure to be excellent. The pressure to be composed. The pressure to carry more than your title suggests.

But here is the truth most leadership books do not say out loud.

Hard work alone is not a promotion strategy, especially when you are navigating corporate America as a Black woman or woman of color.

Let’s talk about why.

The Truth About Visibility in Corporate America

I have sat inside promotion conversations.

I have watched decision-makers debate talent. I have heard the language used behind closed doors.

And I need you to understand something critical about workplace visibility strategies.

Promotions are not awarded solely based on effort. They are awarded based on perception, positioning, and perceived future impact.

The loudest person does not always win.

The hardest worker does not automatically rise.

And being indispensable can sometimes keep you in place.

That last one is the hardest to hear.

If you are the person who fixes everything, who holds it all together, who saves timelines and smooths conflict, you become invaluable. But invaluable at your current level.

For many women of color in corporate, especially Black women in corporate America, excellence becomes survival. You learn quickly that mistakes are remembered. You learn that your competence must be undeniable.

So you over-deliver. You over-prepare. You over-function.

And then you wonder why someone with less output, less tenure, and less context is elevated ahead of you.

It is not because you are lacking.

It is because career advancement for Black women and women of color often hinges on narrative alignment, not just performance.

Promotions are rarely about output alone. They are about readiness narrative.

Does leadership see you as operating at the next level?

Are you framed as strategic or as reliable?

Are you positioned as future-facing or as the backbone of the current system?

These distinctions matter.

Why Being Indispensable Can Keep You Stuck

This is one of the hardest truths I share with my clients.

Being the most dependable person in the room does not guarantee you the next seat at the table.

In fact, sometimes it anchors you in place.

When you become the fixer, the team relies on you to stabilize. When you become the quiet engine, the business relies on you to execute.

But execution and elevation are not the same thing.

Leadership looks for people who can:

• Think beyond their current scope

• Influence across functions

• Shape direction, not just deliver outcomes

If your excellence is always tied to doing, but not to visible strategic thinking, you get labeled as operational. And operational talent is often rewarded with more responsibility, not more authority.

That is not a character flaw.

That is a positioning gap.

And that gap is one many Black and Brown women in corporate navigate without realizing it.

You were taught that if you worked twice as hard, the results would speak for themselves.

But in corporate systems, results must be narrated.

Your impact must be translated.

Your value must be framed in language leadership uses when discussing succession, compensation, and advancement.

Stop Auditioning. Start Positioning.

If there is one shift that changes everything, it is this:

Stop auditioning. Start positioning.

Auditioning sounds like telling yourself you will prove you deserve to be here.

It sounds like taking on more so they finally see you are ready.

It sounds like waiting for someone to validate your growth before you claim it.

Positioning sounds different.

It sounds like knowing you already operate at this level.

It sounds like articulating how your work drives enterprise impact.

It sounds like being clear about where you are headed next, and making sure the right people know it too.

When you position yourself, you are not asking for permission.

You are aligning perception.

You are not waiting to be discovered.

You are shaping the narrative.

And that changes everything.

You Are Not Behind. You Are Being Built.

I see you at midnight scrolling LinkedIn. Wondering if you are behind. Comparing your chapter three to someone else’s chapter ten.

Let me say this clearly.

You are not behind.

You are being built.

Every stretch assignment. Every uncomfortable meeting. Every moment you chose to speak up again after being overlooked. That was capacity building.

You were strengthening muscles that will serve you in rooms you have not entered yet.

You have been accumulating skill, composure, political awareness, and strategic intelligence.

You have been learning how systems work.

And that knowledge is power.

A Different Way to Move This Year

If you are whispering, “Next year will be my year,” pause.

Sis, this year already belongs to you.

Not because someone finally chooses you.

But because you are done shrinking inside rooms you already elevate.

This is not about doing more.

It is about calibration.

Promotions are rarely decided in a single meeting. They are shaped over time through patterns, perception, and positioning.

You begin documenting your impact consistently, not just during performance review season. Because executive memory is short, and influence compounds when it is reinforced.

You begin translating your work into enterprise language. Not just what you did, but what it changed. Revenue. Risk. Retention. Growth. Efficiency. Influence.

You expand your visibility beyond your immediate lane. Because workplace visibility is multi-directional.

You seek feedback that aligns with where you are going, not just affirmation that you are doing well.

This is what it means to move from being indispensable to being undeniably positioned.

And if this is the year you decide to move differently, you do not have to figure it out alone.

This is the work I do every day with ambitious women ready to move from overlooked to undeniable.

To the Black & Brown Women in Corporate

You are often the only.

The youngest.

The first.

The most prepared.

The least protected.

And still, you show up.

This is not soft encouragement.

It is strategic affirmation.

You were never too much.

You were ahead of rooms still learning how to recognize you.

You were never meant to shrink inside spaces that benefit from your silence.

You were meant to shift them.

With respect.

With strategy.

With love.

Latoya