9: Our Voices Matter: The Lived Experiences of Black Women Seeking Career Advancement

Recent research on Black women working in corporate America and higher education shows significant career deterrents as women navigate their career journeys related to promotion and retention. Current literature focuses on the experiences of Black women seeking career advancement from an administrator and faculty perspective. Nevertheless, Black women from managerial and nonmanagerial classifications also seek career advancement, with minimal to no access to mentorship or resources as guidance. The goal of this chapter is to explore how Intersectional Black Feminism (IBF) as a conceptual framework (Parker, 2022), coined by the author, highlights the lived experiences of Black women in the workplace and how such experiences have affected them and acknowledge how the duality of intersectional identities captures the true essence of Black women and how they show up in society. Additionally, IBF leads to identifying strategies to remedy long-standing issues. Lastly, this chapter will address the issue of retention, as Black women navigating their career journeys are typically viewed as diversity hires for quota purposes, yet disparities remain concerning retention. This chapter affirms Black women and provides the hope to evolve and thrive in their careers.