Race in business
DjArcadian
3,630 Posts
Check out this post in the self-employment forum on Craigslist. I'm not shocked about her losing business because of her race. I'm shocked that some of her satisfied customers would make such insensitive comments almost suggesting that they expected her to fail because she was black.http://forums.craigslist.org/?ID=51191547"I am an African American event planner located in Ca. The area that I predominately serve is mostly middle to upper class white couples. I have been in business for a little over 5 years doing corporate event planning and have recently started to concentrate on weddings (about a year ago).I was looking at other wedding planners websites in the Los Angeles/Orange County area and the majority of them have their picture on their page. I thought it was a good idea so I too added a picture. I have noticed over the past 5 months that I have had a major decrease in the number of people who contact me for information. The number of visits to my site has been consistent however; the number of people who actually contact me for information and to set up meetings, has been cut buy almost 40%. Before the picture went up, I was getting on average 3-4 calls a day. At first I did not contribute the lag in business to race, I thought maybe it was just a slow season. It was not until I did an event last week and the bride sent me a thank you note. The bride raved about how great my services were and then the last line read, ???I???m so happy everything worked out, we were hesitant of hiring a black planner but in the end we were really happy we did!??? I almost fell out of my chair.I grew up in a predominately white upper class neighborhood and I have been told I don???t ???talk black??? what ever that means???anyways, before the picture went up, I would talk to people all the time on the phone, when we would meet in person they would say oh wow, I thought you were white. I even had one lady tell me, ???I expected a little white snow bunny not a black lady.??? I was so angry I wanted to slap her. I can tell when I meet with some people they were expecting something else, but after I wow them with my experience and portfolio I usually close 90% of the people I meet with and they don???t care what color my skin is. My fear is that by putting up a picture I put people off before they even see what I am capable of doing. What are your thoughts?As for the picture, it is a professional picture, I am wearing a suite have on tasteful makeup and am well put together. I would consider myself an attractive person and am not over weight. Do you think the slow in business is due to the picture and people fears of hiring a black wedding planner or do you think it???s a coincidence?"
Comments
At least in this case, racist candor might prove useful to her long-term business goals. I'm not surprised though: by definition, ignorant people lack the self-awareness to realize their own ignorance.
They've even found in resume audit students that Black-sounding names, with equal qualifications to ones with more "mainstream" names on them are less likely to be called for an interview. Recent study has shown even a skin-tone bias against dark-skinned versus lighter-skinned Black applicants. It's crazy how race plays into a lot of business decision-making. The way I play it in my career is to be waaaaaaaaay more competent than the average guy. Even then, it's hard to get full props (with some), but it helps immensely
Peace,
Big Stacks from Kakalak
There's similar studies that find the same basis just based on ACCENT. In other words, if you "sound Black" based on your enunciation, it makes a huge difference with how the business world (over the phone) will interact with you.