Coveted C-suite positions are held for the most established and knowledgeable candidates in a company.
Traditionally held by men, C-suite roles are highly sought after, making them some of the most competitive positions in a company. For African Americans, the opportunity to hold a chief title is, seemingly, rarely afforded; even less so for Black women.
In March 2021, Rosalind Brewer grabbed the attention of the business world as she became the only Black woman serving as CEO of a Fortune 500 company. Heading up Walgreens Boots Alliance, the Detroit native left her position as COO of Starbucks. Before Brewer, only two other African American women held CEO positions in Fortune 500 companies: Ursula Burns, who served as head for Xerox from 2009 until 2016, and Mary Winston, becoming the interim CEO of Bed Bath & Beyond in 2019. Thasunda Brown Duckett has joined the small, yet elite group, since becoming CEO of TIAA in May.
Women, no matter race, hold 30 CEO positions across S&P 500 companies, according to 2019 statistics. While making up more than 40 percent of employees at these companies, women total just six percent of CEOs and 11 percent of top earners, per nationwide statistics. As women comprise the minority in chief title roles, a push to place more Black women at the table is ramping up. Beginning locally, Black women are moving up the coveted ranks and bringing other Black women along in the process.
Dr. Chanel Hampton is the founder and CEO of Strategic Community Partners, (SCP), a national firm that works to advance equity with and for marginalized communities. In its six years in operation, the company has worked closely with the Obama Administration, United Way and the Michigan Department of Education. With offices in St. Louis and Washington, D.C, Strategic Community Partners is forging a path for Black communities through diversity, equity, and inclusion, education, project management and talent management. Helping its partners execute their vision for their companies, SCP works to ensure underrepresented communities have a voice.
With a background in teaching, becoming an entrepreneur was not initially the plan for Hampton. However, after teaching for several years and leading diversity initiatives across the
nation, it was the realization that she was her students’ only Black teacher — where the population of students were predominantly African American — that helped create the need for the diversity initiatives. After 15 years, the budding entrepreneur moved back to Detroit, but was in for a surprise.
“When I got back, Detroit looked very different from the Detroit that I knew. It was really shocking and appalling to me that there were all of these tables where decisions were being made and you very rarely saw Detroiters, Black folks, sitting at those tables,” says Hampton.
For Black women, the measure of success and the climb to the top looks differently against other qualified contenders. Stacked against stereotypes, prejudices, and old boys’ club, Black women are facing an uphill battle in corporate America.
“There are numerous studies that show Black women, if you look at a place of employment, are evaluated more harshly, they have to produce significantly more in comparison to their counterparts, and that includes Black men,” says Hampton.
For CEOs looking to foster leadership within their Black female demographic of their companies, maintaining an equal playing field across employees is vital. Creating an environment of inclusivity and culture as well as development opportunities for Black women are also keys to introducing more Black women to C-suite roles.
“My first thought is to provide the same expectations and grace for Black women that you do for everyone else and that is for anyone, regardless of how they identify. I think Black women for so long have been superwomen and it’s the curse of the confident,” says Hampton. “Provide development opportunities. If you look at your company and see all of our Black women are at an associate level, you’re creating a ceiling that there is no way around.”
Believing in the notion to lift as we climb, Black women have an understated rule to bring others up the ladder of success. Building the number of Black women in chief roles will take a unified effort from all sides.
“If you are a Black woman that is in the C-suite, how are you bringing other Black women to the table? As a Black woman, we have to be intentional about our own development,” says Hampton.
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