Welcome to the Broad Experience, the show about women, the workplace, and success.

I'm Ashley Milntight.

This time on the show, how can being overweight affect your career?

I got dressed up, did my hair and everything.

I was ready for this interview.

I got the IAM to come meet the interviewer,

and then as soon as he sees me, like his face just drops.

One of the stereotypes is if you're overweight,

you're lazy and you're not smart or you're slow.

And that is something I have learned to actively prove people wrong. Being a black woman in a plus-sized body at the time I had long dreadlocks

in front of this white congregation, I was keenly aware of how my body was very different than the other women

and the other people in that space.

Coming up on the broad experience.

During the last year or so, I've had several listeners write to me and say,

have you thought about a show on being an overweight woman at work?

A couple of them told me stories, things that had happened that made them wonder,

is my weight damaging my career?

I persuaded two of those women to talk to me on tape, and it wasn't easy for them, because as you'll hear, feeling judged is something they grapple with all the time.

Amy Lockard lives in the Midwest. She's in her mid-30s, and for the first part of her working life...

I worked for a community newspaper here in Michigan, and I was a photo

journalist, and I worked there for almost 10 years before the paper changed hands. And when it

changed ownerships, pretty much everybody who worked there lost their jobs. And after being out of

...