The Memo: What Women of Color Need to Know to Secure a Seat at the Table

by Minda Harts

Overview

From microaggressions to the wage gap, The Memo empowers women of color with actionable advice on challenges and offers a clear path to success.

Most business books provide a one-size-fits-all approach to career advice that overlooks the unique barriers that women of color face. In The Memo, Minda Harts offers a much-needed career guide tailored specifically for women of color.

Drawing on knowledge gained from her past career as a fundraising consultant to top colleges across the country, Harts now brings her powerhouse entrepreneurial experience as CEO of The Memo to the page. With wit and candor, she acknowledges "ugly truths" that keep women of color from having a seat at the table in corporate America. Providing straight talk on how to navigate networking, office politics, and money, while showing how to make real change to the system, The Memo offers support and long-overdue advice on how women of color can succeed in their careers.

Product Details

ISBN-13:	9781541675414
Publisher:	Basic Books
Publication date:	09/15/2020
Pages:	256
Sales rank:	26,583
Product dimensions:	5.45(w) x 8.20(h) x 1.00(d)

About the Author

Minda Harts is the CEO of The Memo LLC, a career development platform for women of color, and an Assistant Professor at NYU Wagner. She has been featured on MSNBC's Morning Joe and FastCompany, and speaks at companies like Microsoft, Levi's, and Google. She hosts the podcast Secure The Seat, and lives in New York City.

Table of Contents

Foreword to the Paperback Edition xi

Preface xv

1 The Ugly Truth 1

2 Building Your Squad 19

3 The Politics 41

4 Everyone Can't Be a Golden Girl 61

5 No Money, Mo' Problems 89

6 Invest in Yo' Self 113

7 Empire State of Mind 137

8 No More Passes: For My White Readers 155

9 Say My Name, Say My Name 169

10 Let's Werk 179

Acknowledgments 201

Appendix: Critical Conversations 205

Index 213

Editorial Reviews

05/27/2019

Harts, an assistant professor of public service at NYU’s Wagner School and CEO of career-coaching company The Memo, issues a direct rejoinder to Sheryl Sandberg’s Lean In in this urgent career guide. While reading Sandberg’s book, Harts recalls, she realized that all of the books she had read about female business success came from a white perspective. Moreover, she had no interest in a narrative of overcoming career roadblocks by just working harder, when systemic injustice is the obstacle in place. By writing this book, Harts explains, she wants to keep women of color from leaning out of the workforce because of bias and limited opportunity. Buoyed up by examples from her own experiences, such as how she confronted a white colleague who consistently called her “the black girl,” Harts provides a necessary guide written from and to women of color, focusing on “building your squad,” navigating office politics, managing in a world that is anything but postracial, and investing in oneself and one’s career. “Don’t take sh— from anyone,” she advises, followed by a much-needed wake-up call for her white readers, in how—and how not—to be an ally. The result is a much-needed new perspective on an overwhelmingly white genre. (Aug.)

Publishers Weekly

"Harts offers plenty of advice, as well as valuable resources like email introduction templates, podcast suggestions, do's and don'ts, and more. The book has been dubbed a Lean In for women of color and will surely be popular, especially among young professional women and those interested in diversity and inclusion."—Booklist

"Harts provides a necessary guide written from and to women of color, focusing on 'building your squad,' navigating office politics, managing in a world that is anything but post racial, and investing in oneself and one's career.... The result is a much-needed new perspective on an overwhelmingly white genre."—Publishers Weekly

"We don't have to fight what was once invisible and unspoken, and we don't have to do it alone, unprepared, or with eye rolls and resignations. I'm talking to myself and my daughter here. We can be well informed and make the best choices for our lives and financial well-being even if we don't have an experienced sister or friend or mentor to talk to. We have one now in The Memo. In this eye-opening and timely book, Minda Harts puts words to our discomfort and our at-work slights, and gives us solutions and action steps to help secure our professional development and well being. The Memo is a must read for all women of color in business (and for all people who want to do better)."—Natashia Deón, NAACP Image Award Nominee and author of Grace

"An essential and honest guide to taking our rightful place in the C-Suite with tangible solutions about how to break barriers and pave a new path for ourselves — and the next generation."—Jamia Wilson, director and publisher of the Feminist Press

"Minda Harts hasn't just written an excellent, down to earth, pragmatically actionable guide to career success for women of color; she's written a searingly accurate and brutally honest account of what it's like to be Black while working and the countless barriers and micro aggressions women of color face, that needs to be read by every white woman and man so that everyone can work together to break those barriers down forever. The Memo is a must-buy, a must-read, and a must-gift — I'd recommend every Chief Diversity Officer and HR department provide copies for all of management to read."—Cindy Gallop, founder and CEO of MakeLoveNotPorn

"For any woman, at any company — even her own. To secure a seat at the table, securing this book comes first."—Danyel Smith, culture journalist and former editor of Billboard and Vibe

"Pursuing a dynamic career as a woman of color in fast-paced, competitive, and often white-dominated spaces no easy feat. But with The Memo, Minda Harts has created a comprehensive and compelling guide on how to navigate our careers in spite of the obstacles we face. With lots of insight, research, and a nice dose of humor, Harts gives her reader the inspiration and motivation to go for her dreams — no matter how daunting. This book is a must-read."—Zeba Blay, senior culture writer at Huffington Post

"Packed with strategic and tactical wisdom for women of color in the workplace."—Forbes.com

"For black women navigating corporate careers, this book is a must-read."—Essence

**"This much-needed career advice guide fills the gap created by other books that lump together women of all races and overlook the unique barriers to access and success that exist for women of color, with chapters on networking, office politics, money and negotiation."—B.L.A.C. Magazine

From the Publisher

07/26/2019

Harts (New York Univ. Robert F. Wagner Graduate Sch. of Public Svc.; founder, the Memo) examines the "ugly truths" that keep women of color from opportunities in the workplace and a seat at the table. Finding a gap in business and self-help literature addressing these issues, the author seeks to fill the gap with this book aimed at recent college graduates, those who are looking for a mentor or sponsor, and women feeling stuck or unsure in their careers. Harts draws on her own career experiences and those of other professionals to provide practical advice on networking, mentoring, sponsorship, office politics, discrimination, and more. Included are profiles of notable businesswomen, such as Patricia Roberts Harris, Tracey Travis, Radhika Jones, Jo Ann Jenkins, Jerri DeVard, and more. Harts also provides guidance on professional development conferences, platforms, and podcasts, and supplies résumé tips and sample letters for connecting and reconnecting with other professionals. VERDICT A much-needed resource for women of color in the workplace that realistically looks at the issues faced and offers advice on how to enact change. Highly recommended.—Lucy Heckman, St. John's Univ. Lib., Queens Village, NY

Library Journal