What initially inspired you to write Twice As Hard?
O: When starting out in my career, I was one of the very few Black women on the Graduate Program and so was very familiar with what it felt like to be “the only one”. Starting my career in an industry which was predominately white and male, I’ve experienced the challenges of climbing the corporate ladder without having many people who look like me to reach out to for advice and there are times, as a Black person, that you look for guidance from someone who can truly understand what it feels like to stand in your shoes - but I did not have that. I knew that this feeling was something so many other Black professionals experienced and there were certainly other Black men and women going through this so for me it was important to create a resource that provided the advice and guidance I knew Black professionals would benefit from. I also was keen to share our experience along with the experiences and advice of our contributors to give people outside the Black community a view into our world.
R: The work I was doing as the founder of the UK Black Business Show meant that I was connecting with many Black business owners and professionals. I was really plugged into the Black community and could see that so many people were in need of a toolkit that could provide them with guidance and direction as they built their careers and businesses. So I wanted to create a resource for Black entrepreneurs and professionals to equip them in the working world, a guide which would show them how to overcome this and ultimately become successful.
What was your creative process for writing the book?
Me and Opeyemi sat down and we brainstormed topics. We wanted to make sure that we had chapters for the key themes that a Black professional would need to deal with in the working world. Not only that, we put ourselves in the shoes of the reader and thought if we had the chance to grab a book like this before or mid-way through our careers what would we like to see in it? After doing this, we narrowed it down to 8 chapters which were Branding, Networking, Mentors and Sponsors, Navigating White Spaces, Growth, Finances, Mental Health and Allyship. We then targeted contributors from a wide variety of industries to ensure that anyone picking up this book would resonate with the journey of at least one person.
There's such a range of contributors in the book. How did you find contributors? Is there anyone who surprised you?
We were very intentional about including contributors that covered a range of industries as we wanted to demonstrate that Black people are not limited to any specific profession. We had existing relationships with some of the contributors, particularly those based in the UK and when we reached out to them they were super supportive and were happy to be involved. Many of the US-based contributors were people we had no prior connections with, but we reached out, shared our story, our mission and what we wanted to achieve with Twice As Hard, and they were incredibly supportive. What was so encouraging was the reaction we received from our amazing contributors was overwhelmingly positive - they all really understood what we were trying to achieve and really came onboard. We were really thankful that people were so receptive.
You discuss allies and allyship in the book, what can businesses and allies do to make workplaces more supportive for Black colleagues?
There is so much that businesses can do to make workplaces more supportive for Black colleagues. One key thing that more organisations need to focus on is action - less talking and more action. The conversations are important but what Black colleagues need to see is tangible results. Whether that is through mentoring and sponsoring Black colleagues, recruiting Black talent, promoting Black professionals or speaking up for Black colleagues who may be overlooked or treated differently - we need to see action. In addition to this, we often hear organisations talk about unconscious bias training and as much as such sessions are useful and serve a purpose in helping employees to understand their own biases and the way it can influence how they interact with their colleagues, organisations need to place more focus on conscious inclusion and move beyond a passive approach to inclusion to an active and intuitional focus on inclusion. People looking to be allies should continue to take the time to educate themselves on the experiences of the Black community, so they are better informed and aware of the different ways in which they can support.
What advice would you give a young Black person entering the workplace for the first time?
Believe in yourself, figure out where you want your career to go and plan your route accordingly. There are challenges you will face in the working world directly related to your race so you will need to be strong and resilient to overcome it. Finally work hard and be yourself, everyone else is taken.
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