I guide leaders to drive systemic change & offer prophetic insights for clarity and restoration from toxic workplaces | Bestselling author & renowned speaker
Jul 5, 2022 • 7 tweets • 2 min read
A lot of academics need therapy.
Tenure is a chronic hazing. It's a breaking process to make people conform. That's why it's hard to emerge from tenure bolder. Who you are as an academic is shaped during the tenure process. You must make a conscious choice to break the mold. 1/
Groupthink is expected for minorities. There's little room for learning if the knowledge isn't already in the room. Academics aren't known for their humility, so good luck trying to transform what already exists.
2/
Jul 5, 2022 • 6 tweets • 2 min read
The people who worked in my dept with me experienced second-hand trauma from my work experience.
Let me explain.
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They saw the resistance to my leadership. They heard people undermining me and lying on me. Because the system was so punitive and hierarchical, they watched me get lynched every day. They were expected to do their jobs as their supervisor was attacked and abused daily.
2/
Jul 4, 2022 • 6 tweets • 3 min read
On the 246th celebration of the birth of the United States of America, allow me, a woman who in 1776 would have been considered 3/5ths property and a bedwarmer for men, to share merch to celebrate this day.
There are people in this world living right now who know the truth about what happened in my workplace.
The harassment, the torture, the sneakiness, & the resistance.
They know how hateful the people were who have publicly gotten awards for being great.
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I know with every fiber of my being there are people who want this experience to fade away into history, a space were people who know the truth have retired, resigned, or moved on to their next promotion.
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Jul 3, 2022 • 4 tweets • 1 min read
The older I get, the more I realize I don’t like groups.
Working in groups.
Sitting in groups.
Socializing in groups.
Groups need norms to function and ways to engage and communicate. Most groups are too loose.
1/
People make assumptions about who leaders are in groups.
Folks often default to people by age, gender, or race.
It’s annoying to have to insert yourself in a convo or establish a rule or way of working when people have no preparation or desire to be led by a Black woman.
2/
Apr 25, 2022 • 9 tweets • 2 min read
I don’t talk about this enough so here goes.
When you push against a system and it is an unjust system, you must prepare yourself mentally for the isolation and resistance that comes with that.
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Activism and whistleblowing looks sexy on TV, but it’s hard on your mind and wellbeing.
You experience the rawness of humanity when you challenge oppression systems, and it’s often not pretty.
You see the core of people, not the facade of professionalism.
2/
Next week I am stepping foot in the building where I was dept chair for the first time since I left that position in 2020.
I am connecting to the postdocs in the program I direct. Seeing them will bring me such joy after the darkness & hurt of that environment. 1/
I have avoided physically being around people who caused harm for as long as I could.
Next week is the week to confront this.
To look in the eyes of people who did nothing.
I may even see an oppressor or two.
I am preparing myself for this moment. It is so real.
2/
Dec 16, 2021 • 5 tweets • 1 min read
I think about bell hooks dying at 69.
When I was a dept chair, I thought about my life expectancy often.
I thought about the stress of working with a small group of people who never wanted me to be hired and who tortured me daily. 1/
I thought about the people who sat by and watched as the torture happened.
I thought about having to go to therapy, get coaches, mentors, and an acupuncturist to make it in an environment where toxicity was normal. 2/
Jul 2, 2021 • 6 tweets • 2 min read
Sometimes I ask myself if I have become that bitter Full Professor. Stupid academic crap gets on my nerves and my tolerance for games is gone.
I think I came into academia kind and trusting, and I have gotten beat up. 1/
If academia was my spouse, I would have kicked that joker to the curb YEARS ago. No person should be in a relationship with someone who says one thing and does another. Academia has been a gaslighter. 2/
Today I will tell you how POC/WOC leaders can be harmed in a system even if they are in charge. 1/
The Withholders
People who work around and for you can keep information from you that you need to do your job well. They make you have to learn info from scratch. It wastes your time and increases the likelihood you won’t succeed. 2/
Dec 1, 2020 • 10 tweets • 2 min read
This morning I pray for the incoming dean in my org.
I can’t tell you the number of times I have been up at this hour crying and crying out to God because of bad situations in this org. Today I am up for a good reason. 1/
I pray that in the midst of administrative chaos, she will find rest. She will be surrounded by wise counsel and people who want success for her as much as she wants success for herself. 2/
Nov 30, 2020 • 12 tweets • 3 min read
My emotions about the Ohio State University engineering dean’s announcement in gifs.
Bear with me...
Nov 22, 2020 • 7 tweets • 2 min read
Organizations can be dangerous places for #BIPOC bc no matter how intense the organizational violence is against them, there are not policies and ways of doing business that will address issues facing the BIPOC.
This means that professional deaths occur as people watch. 1/
Orgs that are violent against #BIPOC are full of folks who either do nothing or ask permission do something.
If someone was being beaten within an inch of their lives, why wouldn’t a person DO something?
What makes people not DO something against workplace violence? 2/
Nov 21, 2020 • 8 tweets • 2 min read
When I’m in a formal setting and people say they follow me on Twitter.
My face #1
When I’m in a formal setting and people say they follow me on Twitter.
My face #2
Nov 13, 2020 • 7 tweets • 2 min read
A year ago today somebody thought it would be cute to print out my tweets & humiliate me publicly on a meeting.
I had lost my voice from the stress and I came home and collapsed.
There are some days you never forget. #life
That was the day that I knew I couldn’t go on like that. I realized that my job was not sustainable without larger organization change. I could not fight that battle 4 yrs more feeling attacked all the time.
Something in me was snuffed out that day & I never recovered.
Oct 20, 2020 • 6 tweets • 2 min read
I don't go to standard DEI talks anymore because I can't tell what the purpose is.
Is this real talk? Is this performative? Is there a purpose? Is this a check box? Will we have action items?
I need my DEI talks to be classified before I sign up.
Also, can we ask real questions? Is this a safe space to speak? Is this for #BIPOC? Are we teaching basics? Are we changing policy? Are we calling past wrongs out? Is somebody going to be humble? Are there going to be reparations? Are there going to be tears? Whose tears?
Aug 23, 2020 • 10 tweets • 7 min read
Before our week, I want to tell you how @BlkInEngineerng started. After the George Floyd murder, a small group of Black women contacted @rbeyah to gain access to @arlnetworkorg members for a call to action. (Join ARLN if you haven't). #BlackInEngineering 1/
We met the following Tuesday w/ almost 60 Black engineering faculty in attendance. We determined that a #BlackInEngineering movement was needed. Major aspects of our work was focus on media and on policy changes. 2/
