Zakiya Dalila Harris And 'The Other Black Girl'

It's Been a Minute

NPR

News Commentary, Society & Culture, News, Spirituality, Religion & Spirituality

4.6 • 8.8K Ratings

🗓️ 8 June 2021

⏱️ 28 minutes

🔗️ Recording | iTunes | RSS

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Summary

Zakiya Dalila Harris was working as an editorial assistant at a New York publisher when she ran into another Black woman for the first time on her office floor. That's when she got the idea for her book, The Other Black Girl. What's it like when you're used to being the only one, but now there's another one like you? And what if things get weird? Like, really weird. Sam and Zakiya talk about how her book subverts the office drama and what lessons it has for a still very white publishing industry.

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Transcript

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0:33.3	Thank you.
0:35.2	You're listening to It's Been A Minute from NPR. I'm Sam Sanders.
0:38.8	So inspiration can strike in the strangest places.
0:43.1	From my guest this episode, it struck in the office bathroom.
0:49.2	For a while, when Zakiya Delilah Harris was an editorial assistant at a publishing house,
0:54.0	she had been the only black woman on her floor at work.
0:57.2	Until one day, another black woman showed up.
1:01.1	In Zakiya, expected a friendly interaction.
1:04.4	And my way I was giving out signals that, you know,
1:07.0	and this all probably sounds really weird.
1:09.2	And I'm like, what is the signal that you're giving out of the bathroom seat?
1:12.2	Tell me, I want to know.
1:13.2	Well, I was kind of like, you know, watching your hands extra slow or what?
	...

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