The Only Black Guy in the Office
Why I Miss Working for a Black Company
Once upon a time, I wasn’t the only Black guy in the office
Update 6/7/22: Level has a new home. You can read this article and other new articles by visiting LEVELMAN.com.
Last week, I had lunch with Adam, a friend and former colleague visiting from Portland. Outdoor seating, of course. He, like me, is part of the token Black employee gang at another company, so whenever we link up, we get into a competition of oppression Olympics: who faces the most annoying microaggressions, how our respective companies are botching diversity efforts, how much onus is put on each of us to bring about change at said gigs. You know — fun, light discussion.
Banter aside, though, we always make sure to toast to thriving (not just surviving!) in a Mad Men world. Neither of us envisioned making it to a point in our careers where we could take 90-minute lunch breaks and play a game of Whose Corporate Credit Card Will Cover the Bill? It’s not that we ever lacked confidence in ourselves, but more that we didn’t know what the wider world held. We’d find out soon enough, though.
Adam and I met fresh out of college, as new hires at a Black-run media company. While it wasn’t Black-owned, you’d never know it by…
