Intersectionality at Work
The relationship between people of color and their workplaces continues to be a major public policy and organizational policy concern. The U.S. population continues to become racially diverse and the income gaps and professional advancement patterns continue to persist along race and gender lines. As a social inequality scholar, I center the experiences of women of color in the workplace to identify the strategies they use to navigate these challenges. Making the experiences of women of color visible and revealing their strategies, I believe, will help identify the labor market and organizational practices that constrain their efforts to advance professionally.
I am a sociologist of race, gender, and work who understands that solving for diversity is a complex multilevel process. I started this journey with a multi-level case study of immigrant services and my dissertation compared the experiences of Latinx professionals to their white counterparts. I have since turned my attention to the technology sector and I am comparing the experiences of Latinx, Black, and Asian women. In each case, I have designed research to account for the relationship between three levels of analysis: the experience of the individual and how she makes sense of her professional journey; the relationships she builds within her professional category and other identity dimensions to alleviate her career challenges; and organizational design that seeks to equal the playing field.
I am inspired to make visible how marginalized groups reach their professional and economic goals. As a high achieving student at elite schools, I was frustrated. My schools did not have courses that reflected my experience nor did they have the support systems needed to retain faculty of color who would’ve taught the courses I was hungry for. To have a PhD allows me to study the experiences of upwardly mobile people of color and share findings with multiple generations.
My aims are threefold
1. Acknowledge the people who paved the way for me to exist.
2. Create a vocabulary that describes what they went through.
3. Ensure the next generation has more options in their pursuit of meaningful careers.
