Elizabeth Leiba - Im Not Yelling: A Black Womans Guide to Navigating the Workplace (Women in Business, Successful Business Woman, Image & Etiquette)

praise for

im not yelling

Elizabeth Leiba is the voice first-generation Caribbean immigrant professional women have been patiently waiting for!! She has answers for the overachievers who are scared to ask questions because they are expected to have all the answers. Whew, this one hits different! Everyone talks about authenticity, but Elizabeth is showing how using your authentic voice and ditching the code-switching can be a path to freedom and achievement. I AM YELLING, LOLIF YOU NEED A SIGN TO READ THE BOOK, HE RE IT IS!

Sue-Ann Robinson , Esq., lead counsel for Ben Cru mp Law in
Ft. Lauderdale

Leibas work is a strategic tool for Black women navigating corporate America and their allies working to create supportive environments. Im Not Yelling is the guide you mark with highlights and get out of your purse at work to address difficult conversations. Its the literary sister circle you need to find the strength to get back up on the days you feel unsupported a nd alone.

Qaadirah Abdur-Rahim , chief equity officer, City of Atlanta

What a gift to Black women in the workplace! Leibas work elevates and amplifies a conversation that is long overdue. With fierce, unapologetic vulnerability, Leiba unpacks the complexity and nuance of this sometimes-debilitating trope impacting so many Black women. For those committed to challenging stereotypes and enhancing workplace inclusion, this book is a m ust read.

Dana Brownlee , Forbes careers senior c ontributor

In Im Not Yelling , Elizabeth Leiba sheds light on some of the common, and troubling, challenges Black women face in the workplace. She offers actionable steps that we, as Black women, can take to beat the odds stacked against us. This guide will support us in obtaining long-term success a nd peace.

Aiko Bethea, Esq. , author and founder of RARE Coaching
& Consulting

im
not
yelling

A Black Womans
Guide to Navigating
the Workplace

Elizabeth
Leiba

Co ral Gables

Copyright 2022 by Elizabeth Leiba
Published by Mango Publishing, a division of Mango Publishing Group, Inc.

Cover Design: Megan Werner
Cover Illustration: vgorbash / stock.adobe.com
Layout & Design: Megan Werner

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Im Not Yelling: A Black Womans Guide to Navigating the Workplace

Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication number: 2022913384
ISBN: (p) 978-1-68481-073-4 (e) 978-1-68481-074-1
BISAC category code: BUS009000, BUSINESS & ECONOMICS / Business Etiquette

contents

"W hy are you yelling?

As a Black woman, I have had those words hurled at me more times than I care to remember. Most of us have. They are on page one of the Angry Black Woman Trope manual. They are usually accusatory, spoken by someone who does not loo k like us.

The subtext of this phrase, informed by history and epigenetics, is: Who do you think you are? Why are you holding your ground? Why are you holding me accountable? Why arent you letting me con trol you?

How. Dare. You. Be. Uppity. And the N-word is silent.

This phrase is weaponized to police our tone. It is an attempt to manipulate us into quiet submission. It is meant to mute our voice.

The thing is, I was never yelling. We were never yelling. I was merely speaking my truthcalmlyand staying grounded in my p rinciples.

Admittedly, there was a time when I might have allowed myself to be bullied into speechlessness. Those days have gone. I refuse to be silenced. We refuse to be silenced. And we know that we do not have to yell in order to make our voi ces heard.

There is a famo us saying:

When youre accustomed to privilege, equality feels like op pression.

Unknown

I would proffer this version for addition to th e lexicon:

When your peace is predicated on others silence,
them speaking feels like an ac t of war.

The year was 2020, and unrest was in the ether.

The COVID-19 pandemic began, decimating lives, disrupting economies, and catalyzing those of us who had managed to survive to reevaluate our priorities. It felt as though collectively, humanity was having an existential crisis; as though many of us were asking ourselves Who am I? Why am I here? Is this all there is? Essentially, we were seeking the answer to the question of the ages: What is my purpose?

It was no longer enough to plod unconsciously on the treadmill of life. The zeitgeist ha d shifted.

In the midst of this global shift, Liz and I came into each others consciousness. Like many of the Black writers and change-makers whom we both now count among our friends, she was extremely active on LinkedIn. By dint of consistently showing up as the embodiment of #BlackExcellence, she started growing a large and engaged community, of which I happily became a part. We connected and started interacting with each other s content.

What began as a mutual admiration fangirling moment has evolved into a friendship. As time passed, Liz and I realized that many of our intersectionalities and interests o verlapped.

We are, of course, both Black women of Caribbean extraction. We both have:

Qualifications on qualifications. (Anybody with Caribbean parents understands this, lol. This is not a brag; its just facts. Liz having three masters degrees is just business as usual in our culture.)

Experience with suicidality, depression, domestic violence, and invisible illnesses.

A similar sense of humorpartly as a coping mechanism. We love to laugh. We love a good meme, a hilarious gif, a pithy turn of phrase, witty banter. Want jokes? We got jokes.

An appreciation of a statement earring and bo ld lippie.

Oceans of innat e empathy.

A strong social justi ce streak.

A love of good vibes, cool crystals, and positive aff irmations.

A deep respect and affection for Black folks, especially Bl ack women.

A desire to speak life into people, and see everyo ne thrive.

And of course, we both love to write.

In response to the recalibration of the spiritus mundi, Liz wrote about us . She posted about Black history, Black culture, Black beauty, and about the challenges of trying to exist in a Black body. I say trying because too many of us were unable to live out our days peacefully. So many of us were pas sing away.

Nothat is inaccurate. Passing away implies a soft, peaceful slipping into the eternal night. At this juncture in history (like so many others), that is not what was happening to Black people. Our skinfolk were being murdered. Brutally. Daily. With impunity. By the very officials charged to protect and ser ve us all.

Did Black Liv es Matter?

They should. Theoretically they did. But the evidence, captured by cell phones and body cams, said otherwise.