Erica Baker Brings it: Speaking Out For Intersectionality, Inclusion

From time to time, HtH would like to profile some of the people involved with our program. First one up, Erica Baker.

The Hack the Hood team first met one of our advisory council members, Slack Release engineer Erica Baker, when she posted a piece last November on Medium called “The Other side of Diversity.”   This piece went viral around the office, as team members commented on the truth in Baker’s descriptions about tech co-workers’ micro-aggressions, judgments, and experiences of racism in the workplace. In her post, Baker made some statements that resonated with many of us and that reflect situations we’d like to see change:

• I feel alone every day I come to work, despite being surrounded by people, which results in feelings of isolation.
• I feel like I stick out like sore thumb every day.
• I am constantly making micro-evaluations about whether or not my actions will be attributed to my being "different."
• I feel like my presence makes others uncomfortable so I try to make them feel comfortable.
• I feel like there isn't anyone who can identify with my story, so I don't tell it.
• I feel like I have to walk a tightrope to avoid reinforcing stereotypes while still being heard.
• I have to navigate the expectation of stereotypical behavior and disappointment when it doesn't happen (e.g. my not being the "sassy black woman").
• I frequently wonder how my race and gender are coloring perceptions of me.

We connected with Erica soon after her article was published, and have been happy to have her as an Advisory Council member and force for good. Since leaving Google and joining Slack, Erica’s continued to write pieces that get right to the heart of issues, such as making diversity inclusive, which looks like including women of color in creating solutions for companies seeking to diversify their workforce, and ensuring that women  focused computing conferences  (Grace Hopper), and organizations (Anita Borg) don’t act in waysthat fail to recognize women of color as allies in tech inclusion. 
We’re happy to have her as an Advisory Council member, and grateful she’s making her voice heard.  Follow her on Twitter or on Medium.

Links:

https://twitter.com/EricaJoy
https://medium.com/@ericajoy ​​

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