#34 “Not one meeting note was shared, not one meeting recording. I was left out as a black woman begging for inclusion for an entire year.”

“I joined a new team and was immediately iced out by two white male teammates. They were instructed to invite me to recurring meetings that yield data for the customers I develop for. I asked for invites to the recurring and I was ignored. I escalated to my manager, a black woman, and they ignored her. My manager escalated to their manager, a black man, and they ignored him. The two white male teammates were called out during a leadership meeting to ensure I was added to the recurring meetings which directly impacted my work. They ignored this call out. During a recent meeting with these two white male teammates and a white female new hire, it was agreed on a Tuesday we would all attend the recurring meeting the upcoming Friday. When Friday came, I reached out to the white female new hire in the early AM and she told me the meeting had taken place already. I reached out to one of the white male teammates about why I had been left out again, his reply was ‘So sorry. I forgot.’ That time made a full year that I had been iced out of meetings directly impacting my work. Not one meeting note was shared, not one meeting recording. I was left out as a black woman begging for inclusion for an entire year. My white female teammate who had been on the team for 2 months was invited to the meeting with no issue. No one ‘forgot’ about her.”