Name: Mellody Hobson on the benefits of being a black woman in business
Uploaded: 2014-12-03
Duration: 2 min 48 s
Description: Mellody-race

Who you are. And in this chapter there were a number of really interesting things. But there was an anecdote in there that really jumped out at me. And you realize not that long ago that you have been tip toeing around your race and gender. And that really surprised me. So tell us about that a little bit. I've been apologizing about being a woman. I've been apologizing about being black. And today it stops, today. I've been tiptoeing around these. [ APPLAUSE ] And I thought about all these conversations I have had all at once. One happened actually very recently. I was sitting with a woman, and we were talking about Valentino dresses. [ LAUGH ] And were at a conference, and my business partner walked up, and she said oh, I'm so sorry, this conversation must be boring you. And I said, why are you apologizing to him? He entered our discussion ,. We were very much enjoying it. And how many times have you walked in to a conversation of two guys talking about the score last night and they have never apologized to me, ever. And she said why am I apologizing to him? And I said I stopped doing that. So that unapologetically black was something that I wanted to talk about in the chapter and being unapologetically a woman. Because I think once we embrace and hold that truth to be self- evident. We are who we are. I think it just opens up a whole another world of candor and comfort. And confidence. In the, in, in this chapter, you say that black women, women have it easier in business because you know how to identify discrimination immediately. You see it as soon as it arises. And white women don't have that. Right? Well, I say that, I gave a talk to women on Wall Street. There were very few black women in the room at the time. And I started it off, I didn't remember this, a woman came up to me in the street, she said" You changed my life. I heard you give a speech and you said I feel sorry for white women ." And I was like Oh God what did I say, and she said, and I remembered it after she triggered it and she said. As black women we grew up with our moms explaining to us how hard our lives are going to be. As a child. As black boys we grew up knowing that the police could stop us at any time and you have to explain that to your child. But white women aren't told. And then they get into the working world and they're like oh my god it's not a fair fight. And I am like [ LAUGH ] we're like we knew that.