BsquaredC Podcast: The Black Woman Corporate Career "Brownprint"

Emma Kwenu Smith is a Ghanaian, who is just starting out her post MBA career at Facebook. Passionate about social impact in particular education and technology, Emma’s journey has taken her from a non- profit focus to business school in America and now into the private sector. Her career approach is grounded in the belief that different sectors, from government, to non- profit to the private secto...

Rachael Gatling is a powerhouse of a woman who is not only kicking ass at a corporate job, in the fascinating medical devices e-commerce space but is also a strong inclusion and diversity champion being the chair of the Black Employees Resource Group(BERG) at Philips. Rachael’s  core beliefs that have carried her in her career are standing in her power and being her authentic self and she is the f...

My guest from last week Brittany Ray and I have in common being Employee Resource Group`(ERG) leaders at our respective company. In the light of events in the last few months that ignited the fight against racism, a lot of people of color who did not have these spaces in their companies have been thinking about how to activate on this topic.  Brittany shared some brilliant advice on the podcast ep...

On this week's podcast I talk to one of the most beautiful humans I know, Brittany Ray. Based in Amsterdam working at Booking.com, Brittany is an icon who approaches life with positive energy, curiosity and boldness. From moving her life from New York to Amsterdam, to travelling solo at times around the world to being being an Diversity and Inclusion champion at Booking.com where she works, Britta...

Last week I brought you a conversation with Rachael Gatling, a woman who is an incredible representation of where I want to go in leadership in my current company. This episode was a moment of validation of my dreams and something a lot of people of color do not have the privilege to experience. There are so few of us showing up positively and realizing our full potential because of the historical...

In this episode I share my thoughts on the weight of showing up authentically for POC in the corporate world, how we cope and what organizations can do about it. The norms of the corporate world have explicitly and implicitly not made POC feel like they belong for a long time, and a coping mechanism to counter this for POC is a practice called code switching. This is when we change the way we pres...

Ru Nyambuya is a banker based in New York who is passionate about development in Africa and she immerses herself in this topic both at work and personally. Professionally she is at Standard Bank in New York selling Africa to corporate clients. Personally she is the fundraising chair of Education Matters Africa Foundation, an organization that we both came from,  dedicated to grooming future leader...

Since women started showing up on the professional ambition circuit, there has been a hanging question of whether we can have it all. The high flying career and still raise a family being the going definition of "all."  My deeper question lately is, WHAT IS ALL? Can we let women define what ALL means for them outside of convention? In this episode I contemplate this question and share my experienc...

 Mayealie Adams is a Sierra Leonean multiple-degreed 16-year veteran of government affairs based in Washington DC. Her career choices have been guided by giving every opportunity she got her all and the kind of impact she wants to have. When she is not politicking, she pours her soul into inclusion and diversity work which brings her so much energy because it is setting up a better future for her...

All my guests so far, including Melanie from last week, have brought up mentoring and sponsorship as a key part of  their success in the corporate world. However, it is a very elusive resource for most women of color because they do not have the same  life experiences as most people in leadership who look for people like them when looking to mentor and sponsor, as noted by a McKinsey and LeanIn st...

Melanie Okuneye, is a dynamic British Nigerian girl in investment banking  at Goldman Sachs in New York by way of London.  When in London she was part of starting an organization called Women in the City Afro Caribbean Network that helped black female students by providing honest and targeted insight into being successful women in corporate careers in London  (Law, Banking, Professional Services e...

In this episode I share my personal stories around immigration and some of what being a desperate immigrant who is still stubborn to dream beyond their circumstances is like.  I got thrown out of America by getting my work visa denied and at the time it was one of the worst things that could have happened to me. I had done everything right chasing the American dream including enduring lots of slee...

Nyaradzo Dzvova or “Nyarie” is a microbiologist  based in the Bay area, who long term wants to apply her talent to finding new therapies for infectious diseases. Driven by a love for mysteries and science Nyarie was drawn to a career in science where she got her undergraduate degree in Germany and her PhD in Texas. On this episode Nyarie and I chat about how she is navigating her career in science...

In this episode I share some reflections and personal stories on a theme from last week's episode with Jennifer Juma on holding down side gigs while chasing your corporate dreams.  I am a serial entrepreneur with 4 ventures under my belt now. They are all focused on creating an equitable world in which people like me, with marginalized identities, have a fair shot at their dreams. People arrive at...

Jennifer Juma or  ”Jen” is a senior associate at Goldman Sachs and a serial entrepreneur who has always had a side hustle since she was 18. Inspired by her mother and grandmother, Jen always hustled on the side next to following her corporate dreams, starting out with bootlegging clothes out of her car after church, to making cupcakes and making soaps with African ingredients. She brings all this...

In this episode I share some reflections and personal stories on a theme from last week's episode with Ruvarashe Chinyemba on getting comfortable with being the transitional generation. While it is noble to not be afraid to be the only one of us in the rooms we are in and embrace being the transitional generation, it is also  a very emotionally and physically demanding responsibility. Especially i...

Ruvarashe Chinyemba or ’Ruva” is  based in Belgium and  is a firebrand of a woman, currently trailblazing a career in cocoa sustainability at one of the biggest cocoa and chocolate manufacturers in the world.  A conversation I had with Ruva over mimosas a year and a half ago birthed the idea of this platform, with us spending time together commiserating about our jobs and impostor syndrome and rea...

Women of color are a rare sight in the corporate world, even more so in leadership positions, but we exist and are out here striving to reach the highest tables in our industries! However the challenges we face are enormous and specifically informed by the intersection of race and gender. Tune in every Thursday to hear stories from interviews with some badass women of color and the experiences of...