It's February, which means it's Black History Month in America.
February is also the month that Rosa Parks, Audre Lorde, and Toni Morrison were born.
Before you pull a random MLK Jr. quote and post it to your Instagram, think about what Black History Month really means, especially at this exact point of time. Maybe it's because we are a career site for women, but our thoughts immediately go to Black women making it happen—whether in the voting booth, on the track, or on the printed page.
Every year, we like to take this time to look back on the impact made by Black women over the past year.
One woman whose story comes immediately to mind is Allyson Felix, an American track and field sprinter who wrote this op-ed for The New York Times. In this op-ed, Felix detailed how Nike wanted to renegotiate her contract for 70 percent less after she went through an emergency c-section to deliver her daughter.
By telling her story, Felix brought worldwide attention to the protections many women do not receive around maternity and motherhood. As a result, Nike announced a new maternity policy. Felix also returned to the track and has since broken Usain Bolt’s record for world titles, earning her 12th gold medal—less than a year after giving birth to her daughter.
We can also talk about Lizzo, who arguably owned 2019 with raw talent, body positivity, and being absolutely 100 percent “that bitch.” These things garnered her Time’s Entertainer of the Year and a bright future of inspiring a generation of girls to be exactly themselves.
In 2019, we also mourned the death of Toni Morrison, a Black woman who paved the road for multiple generations of young Black writers, poets, filmmakers, and creatives. Morrison used her work to explore black identity in American—specifically the experience of the Black woman—through her dreamlike, expressive writing.
These stories are so important.
Here at Career Contessa, we are lucky enough to have a regular roster of Black females who lend us their own voices—to teach us to be better, to show us how to send the ladder back down, and to challenge us to always learn more—about employing empathy, about practicing acceptance, about increasing inclusion, and about cultivating diversity. We also teamed up with Mogul Millennial for a syndication partnership—and we are so lucky they lend their voice to us to tell stories we simply cannot tell ourselves.
For this, we are endlessly grateful. Here are some of our favorite personal stories, interviews, op-eds, and instructional articles from Black women.
Mogul Millennial x Career Contessa
- Allicia Washington-White On How Writing Can Reduce Stress + Manage Emotions
- “You Changed Your Hair Again”—How to Integrate Black Hair With Corporate America
- 5 Black Millennial Women Share What They Wish They Knew About Equal Pay + Salary Negotiation
- This Millennial Went from Being Homeless to Becoming an Entrepreneur
- 6 Tips on Success We Learned From Rihanna, the Ultimate Serial Entrepreneur
- Supporting Your Sista: Creating Alliances With Women of Color Professionals
- I’m Every Employer’s Dream “Diversity Hire,” and It’s the Worst
- Hypervisible, Invisible: How to Navigate White Workplaces as a Black Woman
- Here's Why I Started Owning My Diversity at the Office
- This Is What It’s Like to Search for a Job as a Black Woman
- How I Got My Company Talking About Social Injustice
Black Women On Leadership And Career Advancement
- Women Who Lead: Julee Wilson, Fashion & Beauty Director at ESSENCE Magazine
- An Interview with Candace Rodney of Sony Television
- An Interview with Dollar Shave Club's VP of Program Management, Kadie-Ann Bowen
- A Top Lawyer Talks Leadership, Transparency, and a Music Empire's Goals for Diversity
- An Executive at Intuit on How to 'Send the Elevator Back Down'
- An Art Director Talks Great Design and Starting Your Career Over in a New City
“Caring for myself is not self-indulgence, it is self-preservation, and that is an act of political warfare.”
-Audre Lorde, A Burst of Light
-Audre Lorde, A Burst of Light
Black Women on Wellness and Personal Development
- Black Health Matters
- For Serena Williams, Childbirth Was a Harrowing Ordeal. She’s Not Alone
- When The Body Is The Battle, Who’s Allowed To Be Physically Strong?
- 7 Must-Read Books Written by Women of Color That Are Changing the Conversation
- Millennial Women Are Facing Serious Burn Out—Here's How to Beat It
- The Beauty Brands That *Actually* Understand Women Of Color, According To 6 Beauty Editors
Other Favorite Resources
- The 2020 Election Will be Decided in Black Women’s Hair Salons. Here’s Why
- “How Can White Women Include Women of Color In Feminism?” Is A Bad Question. Here’s Why
- The Blindspots of White Female Entrepreneurship
- When Feminism Is White Supremacy in Heels
- Therapy for Black Girls (submitted by our contributor, Ciera Graham)
- Black Career Women's Network (submitted by our contributor, Ciera Graham)
We would love for this to be an ever-growing resource highlighting amazing Black women. Please email us editorial@careercontessa.com with some of your favorite stories from Black female voices.
