I'm Aisha Roscoe and this is the Sunday story. So story time I've been reporting and

hosting at NPR a few years now. Before that I didn't really have any broadcast

experience and when I got to NPR, I was told they wanted me to sound like myself on the radio.

Now I'm a black woman from the South and I sound like it. Eventually some

listeners would let me know that I did not sound like they expected. I've been

called lazy and unprofessional and my intelligence has been questioned.

I have to say this is not the majority of the audience.

Most of the audience has been really supportive and so have my colleagues.

And standing out in some ways has been really great for me, but I've been thinking a lot about what it means to be a black woman at work,

especially in light of all the well-reported attacks on diversity, equity, and inclusion programs or

DEI. I just feel like this is a moment when a lot of black women,

whether in academia or the corporate world or the government are carrying the weight of being

hyper visible but often devalued.

So today I'm having a conversation about a topic that matters a lot to me.

How do you show up to work when your identity sets you apart from most of your coworkers.

I sat down with Lauren Wesley Wilson, the author of a new book called What Do You Need?

It's aimed at helping women of color thrive in the workplace.

Something Lauren has dedicated her career to doing as the founder of

Color Com, a networking community for women of color

and communications and media. We get into what it means to have your. color and

Lauren shares some advice from her own accomplishments question based solely on who you are and Lauren shares

some advice from her own experiences on how to face workplace challenges without losing faith

...