The Working Black Woman

  Did you know that some of the most prominent and most successful businesses are either managed or started by black women?
  Outside of the stereotypical statements that have always been in circulation about the negative attitudes and outlooks of the black woman, it has to be blasted at this time about the positive effects the black woman has in the workforce and in the world.

   What makes the black woman so different from any other race or gender?  Her drive.  Her passion.  Her inherited gift of patience and direct way of dealing with stress and hardship.

   The black woman is born with the necessary tools to nurture her children without sparing the rod or spoiling the child.  The black woman knows how to allow her man to feel like a man while at the same time being his backbone in the midst of him doing so.
  While everyone plays an important role in the various parts of this world, women—unlike men—are in a constant juggle with life and the important elements that allows a household and workplace to proceed without fail.  We think in our sleep.  We dream about our next task in the morning in respect to preparing kids for school, making sure our men leave the house pleased with last night’s sexual encounter, pondering on what to cook tonight.  We hope by the time we get to work, we will have eaten something and we are not about to face the never ending headaches of work.  Then the thoughts of our physical being, spiritual connections and rank in this world set in.  As woman, we have been known to overthink, be control freaks and to over analyze.  These same factors that are used against us also have a reverse effect in the workforce in that we use these same qualities to solve problems at work and allow us to become leaders that are very detail-oriented.

   Thus, the workforce is no different.  Not to bash or put down anyone else of a different status, but do your homework and you will find that black women have been the backbone for not only their men, but also some of the most successful businesses to ever exist.
   Some of the more obvious names we tend to think of when it comes to successful black women are names such as Oprah Winfrey, Michelle Obama and Beyoncé Knowles.  But there are many other successful black women that contribute to the overall makeup of the world as we know it.  Among these strong women include, but are not limited to:

• Rosalind Brewer, President and CEO of Sam’s Club/ WalMart Stores of US
• Joyce Banda, Former President of Malawi (1st Female President)
• Ertharin Cousin, Executive Director of World Food Programme of the United Nations
• Helen Gayle, President & CEO of CARE in the US
• Ngozi Okonjo-Iweala, Coordinating Minister of the Economy & Minister of Finance in Nigeria

…just to name a few.