The Toya Talks Podcast
The education system teaches us to learn and recall information and at the end of it we are tested and expected to then pass exams. After all said and done the reality is, we are supposed to get a job at the end of it. I was unaware of the difficulties I would encounter at work especially as a Black Woman. How do I navigate work and how do I keep a job? Education institutions do not prepare you for work, racism, bullying, and oppressive managers in the workplace. Where the education system has not prepared you, I will. Toya Talks is a platform birthed on my day to day uploads on Snapchat. I discuss the realities of work from the perspective of a Black Woman and how I have successfully navigated work using my experiences. Toya Talks Podcast covers the world of work and not just the corporate world. Black Women for too long have been overlooked and underrepresented in the workplace. Toya Talks is a safe place and a platform to share, grow and learn, more importantly, educate ourselves and everyone else so we can navigate and grow in the world of work more smoothly. This Podcast contains my opinions and feelings based on my lived experiences, my opinions and my Black experience. My views and experiences are in no way intended to cause offence. Lets put the sensitivity to one side, prepare to laugh, learn & grow!!!!
The Toya Talks Podcast
An Over Qualified Babe
We explore the influential role of Black women in politics, drawing parallels between the US and the UK. We reflect on the groundbreaking impact of leaders like Barack Obama and Kamala Harris on political diversity and leadership. Despite these strides, the absence of a Black Prime Minister in the UK remains striking. We delve into Kamala Harris's career, examining her tenure as Attorney General and the criticisms she has faced. This segment underscores the ongoing challenges and triumphs of Black women in political spheres, highlighting the persistent need for systemic change and recognition.
Our conversation addresses the overqualification phenomenon experienced by Black women in the workplace. We discuss the systemic barriers that necessitate extensive qualifications for Black women to even be considered for roles often occupied by less-qualified individuals due to white privilege. Personal stories and societal conditioning illustrate these issues, and we also touch on the ethical implications of fundraising decisions, such as the GoFundMe campaign for Brendan Nwachibe. Join us as we navigate these complex topics, offering insights on career growth, identity, and allyship while fostering a platform for underrepresented voices.
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Music (Intro and Outro) Written and created by Nomadic Star
Let's normalise letting people admit they work for money. I love my job, but if I didn't get paid I wouldn't do it. Let's stop with these virtue messages. It's called work for a reason. Don't make it deeper than what it needs to be. I honestly think this is why people become disengaged with their job or fantasise about dream jobs. With their job or fantasize about dream jobs. It's such a fallacy and it can be incredibly disappointing to realize that work was never designed to be our fulfillment in life. And that was reposted on Instagram by Jawal Lalgi, and his handle is humanheadhunter on Twitter. Oh, sorry, it's called X now, isn't it? Hello, everyone, welcome to Tuesday's episode of the Twitter Talks podcast.
Speaker 1:Sometimes I feel like anytime, like I record. I do feel refreshed because I'm recording when I have something to say, which was always the case before, but even more now. It's more poignant because I don't always have a lot of time, and if we understand time as a commodity and if we understand the value placed on time or the time we, the value we should place on our time, when you carve out time to do anything, it should always be valued, because there's not enough hours in the day and I'm talking from the perspective of a first-time mum with an almost 16-year-old, 16-year-old, 16-month-year-old, oh my God, 16-month-old, year-old no, it's a 16-month-old, she's a year and 16 months, months and career woman and wife and everything in between. Investor, like you know, I'll be just investing in myself. Listen there, there's just so much has happened and there's been times when I was like, right, I'm going to record today and it just hasn't happened and I just go with it. Now I think when the riots and the civil unrest was happening in the UK, there was a for me. I didn't feel there was a. It wasn't required for me to lend my voice at that time because I wanted to see what would happen.
Speaker 1:Now the surprising thing that has happened is Keir Starmer, who is the prime minister of the UK. He has shocked me no end. He's taken a very hard line approach and actually I don't like Keir Starmer. I don't like the way he treats black women. I don't like the way he has treated Diane Abbott and I've shared that in a previous podcast. I do not like the way in which Black women are treated in the Labour Party Full stop. His handling of the civil unrest, where he took a hard line, placed certain mandates with the court system to process people who were standing trial for riot-related offences, I think went quite far in establishing control over the situation in a way that I think Rishi Sunak, boris Johnson, could never. And I think it's also to do with the fact that Keir Starmer is a qualified lawyer and he was actually head of the Crown Prosecution Service at some point, so he completely understands the legal technicalities and the application of law in relation to the riots that took place. What can I say? I'm not surprised about the rights.
Speaker 1:By the way, the fabric of the fabric of this society is woven in racism and I've always, you know, been very conscious in having conversations via the podcast episodes about how racism is the backdrop of everything in our society. And the difference is, as in this society, in the uk, racism is usually covert. So it's the micro, macroaggressions. Um, racism is not just the use of the n-word. Is being treated this in this, in can't ever say this word being disproportionately disadvantaged because of the color of his skin, as black people and as, um, a child of two immigrant parents. To understand the history of, of this country is to understand this country is built on the backs of immigrants. So when you are having these riots and the civil unrest, and how the EDL has sought to weaponise and utilise certain opportunities to further push racist rhetoric. To further push racist rhetoric. I'm almost, I'm actually compelled to remind everybody that just because somebody doesn't use the N-word doesn't mean their behaviour or what they're saying is any less racist. And what we saw was what we saw was a lack of education and a lack of comprehension and a lack of fully understanding the issues that this country has and at any given time, at any given opportunity. I think the default for this country is a small proportion of people to default to racism, and it's crazy to me.
Speaker 1:I think the government took a very hard line approach because anarchy can never prevail here in the UK. But Keir Starmer led like a leader and was very clear about his dismay and was very clear about his dismay. He used the word racism and actually he was very clear about the consequences. Um, I'm not going to get into the philosophical aspect of the way power and control operates here in the uk. Yaka, read your books, hit google, hit chat gbt. But the point is, if you don't take a hard line approach to certain things within your society, anarchy will reign and before you know it. You know you're having a full-out race war and it became quite uncomfortable to watch because we're watching people who look like us experience direct racism in a way that's no longer covert. But at the same time I think it wrapped itself up real quick, the overt aspect of the racism. But there were still displays of racism and we're going to get into the whole gofundme yeah, we're going to get into that um.
Speaker 1:I think what was even more deafening is the silence from certain companies. There were certain companies that would that release, like um, emails to their organization to say you know, there has been some unrest, but not actually directly calling out racism or calling out the reasons for the unrest, kind of skirting around the topic. I think a lot of companies are complicit in the unrest when they don't directly have, or they don't directly call out or even facilitate or attempt to have, discussions about what's happening in society that's affecting members of staff. As a Black woman, I thought I was affected because in my head I'm like how long is it going to take to get to where I am, where I have to see it, be confronted with it? Right, london is such a cosmopolitan, it's so diverse, and there was this undercurrent ofcurrent of? Well, if it can happen in different parts of the UK, it can happen in London. It's very uncomfortable to think in that way. London is becoming quite dangerous in certain aspects.
Speaker 1:Um, the rate in which people are dying as a result of knife crime is absolutely diabolical. I'd say it's on par with America's gun issues. I'd like to think that Keir Starmer will put a hard line approach when it comes to knife crime. Recently in Leicester Square, a young young girl was stabbed I think she was about 10 or 11 at random. Uh, the man who who stabbed her and apparently um from the reports that I read had this little girl on a headlock and proceeded to stab her. Um, she's in a critical condition in hospital and it was. It was actually a um security guard who was working in a store nearby where the attack happened. He witnessed it run over and effectively saved this young girl's life. He is, uh, what would be defined in this country as an immigrant, but the backdrop of the race riots didn't stop him from risking his life to save another, and I'm really praying for this young girl's recovery. God knows the trauma that she is experiencing or going through, and she was out in Leicester Square in London enjoying the summer holidays with her mum and this man just decided to stab her. But that's if that isn't.
Speaker 1:I just, and as a mother myself, it's heavy to think that we're living in a society where, even going out for a walk, you have to just be so hyper vigilant that you don't even enjoy the walk because you're trying to anticipate people's behaviors or you're constantly reviewing people's behaviors in certain environments. It is exhausting and it is scary. And again I always ask myself the question is this country for me? Is this country for me Because my parents came over to this country? Is it what they call it, the British dream or the great British dream? That just doesn't exist. It's a bloody nightmare. The taxes are too high, the crime rate is astronomical, the civil unrest is uncomfortable and, whilst that's under control, the constant reminder that all, the constant feeling of not belonging plagues me a lot. And I think it plagues me because I myself know I do not belong here.
Speaker 1:I'm here as a as a result of my parents choices, and I've just kind of stayed here and the reality is, I think the example our parents have given us is that you, albeit difficult and never being straightforward, but you can start again, and I just kind of feel like I have a lot of questions to ask myself in relation to what life looks like here in the UK and whether I want to continue living my life in in, in a country that I don't completely feel comfortable in and also a society that constantly attacks children's innocence, not allowing children just to be children, enjoy their childhood before they are, before they are catapulted into adulthood and forced to be adults, because adulting is a scam. Let's be real, I just don't know if, and also the weather's bad uk is just overall bad vibes. By the way, in my opinion and I'm not being negative, I'm being honest the uk is. But listen, every month, yeah, before you even look at your pay packet, just look at the tax you pay, and then think am I getting the equivalent in services that I'm paying for? God forbid. You call the GP and try and get an appointment Jesus, you might be insulted by the receptionist. And this is before you've even tried to get an appointment, which, in an emergency, could take two weeks. Yeah, you heard me right. I'm sorry if you're hearing a bit of noise my daughter's on a baby cam, because motherhood is every single day, 365 days a year, honey through podcasting, right down to using the toilet. Okay, thank you.
Speaker 1:So, for those of you who are not aware, I do enjoy politics, but particularly US politics. I find it really interesting and I think it's because of the history that sits behind it. And I mean, let's really be honest when we think about the evolution of politics. Barack Obama is a mixed race man. Barack Obama is a mixed race man and he identifies as a black man and therefore the first black prime minister and president of the United States. They paved the way. I think US politics in a way paves the way for the politics and the direction of politics here in the UK. Come on, and whilst we in the UK have never witnessed a black prime minister, albeit a male or female, the reality is the first Asian prime minister was Rishi Sunak, and I firmly believe the backdrop of diversity usually comes from the States. Let's be real. Diversity usually comes from the states. Let's be real.
Speaker 1:I say all of this to say that I don't particularly enjoy british politics. I just think british politics lacks tenacity. We haven't seen like a born leader since tony blair and like forget tony blair's policies and some of the decisions that he made that were questionable. But I'm talking about the tenacity of a leader, you know, a leader that will excite you, that's vivacious, that's charming, that's courageous, we've never seen. I mean sorry, you know, I've not seen that and maybe you know if you have kind of let me know, but I've not seen that, and maybe you know if you have kind of let me know, but I've not. Actually, oh, there was one. He was, uh, they, they had tipped him to be the leader of the labour party, is it? Oh, he was an ibo guy, mixed race. I can't remember his name, but he decided to step aside from politics because he felt that they would drag his family. Oh, is it chukwu, chukwu Emeka? I can't remember his name, but y'all know who I'm talking about Kamala Harris, who I've called her? Kamala Harris, and it's Kamala. I actually took the time to really hear her say her own name.
Speaker 1:Kamala Harris is a mixed race woman. Her mother is from is indian and her father is jamaican. She is mixed race. She is not a black woman. She doesn't identify as black. She identifies as mixed race and as a woman of color, which I, I have to say, I don't particularly like the term, but it's a term that's, that is that she uses as well, so I'm going to use it for the purposes of the podcast. When discussing her, I think Barack Obama paved the way essentially for Kamala Harris to recognise the possibility that she could be the first female mixed-race president. And, to be fair, people will say Kamala Harris is not really well known and I would say actually she is. She played her role as Vice President and typically Vice Presidents are second to the actual president, so in effect, she did play her position really, really well. She's a vice president now.
Speaker 1:Kamala harris is really interesting. Like the history of her is very interesting, and I say her history, but typically, typically you don't know much about her other than you know. She went to a um, a black college. I think it's a black university. She, um, is very much mixed race in that she doesn't lean towards one side of her or the other. She embraces her dual heritage. She's very much and she very much identifies as a mixed race woman and I really respect it. I think in our in in the current society, especially within the black community, and we could get into the history of it. We're just not going to get to the history of it in this podcast episode.
Speaker 1:The black community are very open. Open in saying if you are not accepted by you know a part of you, know, if you're mixed race, you're not accepted by you know one side of you, then as a community we'll accept you as black. Let's be real, that's what our community does. But I really think kamala, she leans into her black side of her. When you go to a black college, you know, is it HBICU Like she? And there's nothing wrong with that at all. But I think the reason why I'm almost, I just think it's, let me just say, say, I think it's very strange that Donald Trump would call out Kamala Harris for identifying as black when in fact she, that is her prerogative, and the fact that he could talk about race by even using amber rose, of all people, as part of his campaign is very wild to me. He understands the power of the black vote and he is trying to uh, he's trying to lean into that black vote as much as possible, but the point is he's not black, so that he's constant putting his foot in it when it comes to kamala harris, and you know her race is very telling about his view, his views about her and his views about the black community. That's all I'm going to say on that.
Speaker 1:Kamala Harris is a qualified lawyer. She was the deputy attorney general, senior prosecutor and then attorney general in California. People will talk about her conviction rates and there is a lot of debate about her conviction rates in relation to the Black community and convicting Black people. She had very high numbers of convictions, but I mean as a chief prosecutor, attorney general and a former deputy attorney general, one can argue she was doing her job. Wendy Osafo from the Real Housewives of Potomac is also a commentator. She's also a lecturer in an interview discussing the presidential race and bearing in mind that, as of today's date, kamala Harris has only been running for president and has only been campaigning in the last four weeks because Biden had basically thrown the towel in. Biden had gotten to a point and everybody had gotten to the point, and even the Democratic Party, where they questioned whether he would actually win this time.
Speaker 1:I'm saying this because I think it's important to note that Kamala Harris hasn't had the same amount of time as Trump has to campaign to be the next president of the United States. In saying that, wendy Asafo from the Real Housewives of Potomac, who's also like a cultural commentator, but she's also a lecturer. I think it's john howard university, I can't remember, but she is amazing. I love wendy asafo, royal housewives of potomac. She's amazing and she made a a comment. I'm going to read the point, albeit it's partly paraphrase she said that kamala harris is not only overqualified for her role, particularly when compared to former President Donald Trump, whom she described as benefiting from white privilege rather than possessing the necessary qualifications for presidency, and it was a view that was widely shared, but not widely discussed. I feel like wendy osafo's comment propelled this conversation to the forefront.
Speaker 1:You know we're we're talking about kamala harris here, who's not only a qualified lawyer. For x amount of years she has been the vice president of the united states of america. She she was a deputy attorney general, she was a chief prosecutor and then attorney general, and obviously not in the order um in california. We're talking about somebody who understands how to apply the law, how to act within the law, and somebody who understands the law understands um will be it from a vice president perspective how to run a country, how to lead a country. But, more importantly, when we're looking at her credentials, the only credentials john trump really has is maybe being the former president of the united states, but let's look at it on its um, let's look at the bare bones of it. What, what qualifications? What qualifies donald trump to run for president? What qualifies him to be good for the job? Not to run for president? That's, that's slightly unfair. What qualifies him to be president other than his white privilege, which he's tapping into? Nothing.
Speaker 1:But when my dear Safa made this comment, I felt fact triggered, because how many of us are in positions, or are applying for positions, where we are overqualified? As black women, we have to be overqualified, and I'm talking about black women. I'm talking about black women, I'm talking about black people in general. We understand how racism works and how those microaggressions operate in the workplace. We understand like our parents have told us their experiences. Some of our parents have prioritised education as being so important because they understand that education is the door to opportunity. So, as a community or as black women, let me talk about black women, because that's what we do here Teach, guide and educate black women how to navigate the world of work safely and, in turn, highlight the path of our success. Let's speak to black women.
Speaker 1:As a black woman, I understand that I need to be overqualified to sit and be interviewed for a particular role, and the irony is the person that's probably interviewing me is not even qualified to interview me, talk less manage the team that they're going to be hiring me in. How many of us are overqualified for the job we do? So I'll give you an example of something I, in comparison to people I work with, I'm overqualified. I haven't just done a law degree. I haven't just done a law degree. I've gone to law school. I've then done a master's in law. And while this is happening happening I'm garnering experience.
Speaker 1:When I went to law school, I was holding down two jobs one, I was cleaning toilets and the other one I think I was working in one I want to say Sainsbury's, but I was working in a supermarket, albeit, I was at that supermarket for three months. I was like I can't do this, like I can't. It stressed me out. I was overstimulated. I can see that now, but the point is like we're making all these sacrifices at a granular level, but I'm saying this to also hammer the point that our education doesn't just stop, or my education didn't stop, at my master's.
Speaker 1:I went on to do my level four, um, uh, sips chartered institute of procurement, level four. And then when I enter the, the, the, the legal field, I'm gaining experience on the job. Do you understand? I'm in a continuous state of learning because I understand that in order to be a subject matter expert and to maintain my understanding of the industry I work in and also to command a certain salary and to be able to to walk into interviews with a level of confidence that I know otherwise I wouldn't have if I wasn't overqualified. But to even be called for interview, I have to be overqualified. My counterpart probably has no qualifications whatsoever and it's just worked their way to the top because of white privilege.
Speaker 1:If you're listen, if you're asking for specific qualifications for a role, but you're shortlisting people who don't even have half those qualifications, if at all, and those people that you are taking to interview are non-black or are white dominant. Are white dominant? Those people who, who you have shortlisted, who, who are white people? It's the cause of white privilege, because the and what is white right? White privilege in that context? It's the idea that they do not have to qualify in the same way as other people, that their whiteness gives them a superior advantage over people who are not white. There's a preference. That's what white privilege is, and when you're in white-dominated industries, you see it a lot more right.
Speaker 1:What I never understand is they want people who are overqualified for the wrong, but yet they themselves don't have the qualification. I'm never going to understand it and I'm realizing that when I see fellow black people and I'm speaking about black people because I'm a black woman, so I can only talk from the standpoint of my own experience and the experience I have been exposed to um and seen for myself is that a lot of us are kamala harris. We are a lot of us are the kamala harris's of our organization, where we are overqualified. Let me tell you something I was working for an organization and they had asked us to do company profiles and I don't really know like.
Speaker 1:When it comes to bragging about our achievements as Black women, we are conditioned to tone down. We are it's like a default, and then we have to like. Then we malfunction and realise hang on a minute, why am I not tooting my own horn? When I worked hard for this, no one gave me this't have access to privilege. I worked hard for this, I made a sacrifice. Before you get into all of that the default is not to necessarily say it, or you think about whether you should. All those things are social conditioning of black women, because society tells us we're less than we don't see ourselves being well represented in certain organizations, especially in senior roles. So already we're being conditioned to believe we're not enough because we don't see ourselves. So how would you know that you have an opportunity unless you see someone that looks like you? And even if there is a token, the fact is that token just represents one. One is not enough as far as I'm concerned.
Speaker 1:So the first iteration of my profile I didn't really mention much. And then I was able to see what other people had written. One person in particular said he had studied everything but the Bible. I was like, okay, you know something? Not at all. It's time to put pen to paper. So I wrote my qualifications. I added it because I've written all my industry experience, but I hadn't included what qualifies me. So I added it.
Speaker 1:Do you know, the manager removed it All my qualifications from my profile, but submitted the profile and actually removed the qualifications of everybody on the team and ironically we're all ethnic minorities. You see, there is a commonality with ethnic minorities in general, we understand the power of education. So and I'm not talking all, I'm talking some right, I can't keep making these exceptions. Those people who know know what I'm saying. But, as ethnic minorities, education is so important so actually it's not far-fetched for ethnic minorities to be overqualified. In general, right, and that's been my experience, but I can only speak about my black experience. Okay, the manager at the time removes all our qualifications and all ethnic minorities. He is a, by the way, he is't a minority, but I'll leave you to conclude what you will.
Speaker 1:And I thought to myself isn't it ironic that some people are happy to erode or remove or pretend that what qualifies you doesn't exist, because they themselves haven't got that and in order to feel comfortable? The only way they can feel comfortable is to remove, dumb down or ignore what qualifies you, to make them feel comfortable and remove the idea that you would ever be enough, if not more, than for a role, but be comfortable to operate in weaponized white privilege as and where is required. That's crazy to me, but it was a reminder to me that I should always lead with what qualifies me, because without that qualification or those qualifications, the experience wouldn't have come, because the qualification directed the experience. Do you understand how many of us have been? Or are Kamala Harris, who is overqualified for a role but is only overqualified because we have to be overqualified to get through the door, kamala Harris running for the President of the United States in November? She's overqualified because the level of experience that she would have to have to qualify requires her to be overqualified. Does that make sense? What qualifies Donald Trump? What qualified him the first time? So if you're going to use the fact that he's the former president, but what qualifies him, why is there not scrutiny over what qualifies him?
Speaker 1:It's so easy to talk about Kamala Harris's conviction rate when she was attorney general in California and to talk about that to kind of discredit her, and to talk about that to kind of discredit her. But the former Prime Minister, the former President of the United States, has a conviction. Nobody wants to talk about that. Do you think Kamala Harris could have got the Democratic ticket if she had a conviction? Are you joking? Donald Trump has a ticket as a Republican. Listen, I'm not going to lie to you. One thing I'm going to say to you about the Republicans is if they believe in you, they don't care what conviction you've got mate. Clearly they're going to hold you down.
Speaker 1:That's the level of loyalty and dedication I require out of my friendships, honey. But seriously, I think the reminder here is the understanding, as black women, that we don't have the luxury of being mediocre. We don't have the luxury of having any proximity to any type of privilege. We don't have the luxury of being average, especially when you're going into roles whereby you are commanding a set of money or you're commanding a job title. Average is not going to be enough. And don't get me wrong, we're living in a society where we need average. We need average people to know who's not average and who can be more than average. And I get all of that, but I'm speaking about black women who aspire to be more than average. If you know that you want more, you have to be over qualified as a starting position. That's crazy, but that's the reality.
Speaker 1:I've worked in many organizations where I'm more qualified than my manager and the only qualification my manager has is the passage of time. In one organization I was working and I had a manager who'd been in the organization for 10 years. She had no qualification in commercial contract management or commercials or procurement to be managing the team or procurement to be managing the team and she would boldly tell us periodically that she's been in the organisation for 10 years and she's gained the experience on the job and being in the team for the last five years she's picked up a lot. She couldn't approve contracts, couldn't draft a contract, couldn't do any commercial finance modelling, couldn't do any bid responses, couldn't do any sourcing, couldn't do any bid responses. She had no qualification other than the passage of time, which really is code word for white privilege.
Speaker 1:I couldn't understand how she became the head of like head director of commercial contracts. I couldn't commercial contract and procurement. I couldn't understand it for the life of me. This is the person that was approving my holidays. I should have just said to her listen, I'm taking holiday, I work my ass off. But she wouldn't ever understand what if I would say it. I'm working so hard like I'm um. I've got an impasse with this contract negotiation and I've got um to review the teaser season a bid response. I often, always, would question what value she adds other than the passage of time.
Speaker 1:But when she left, I was her natural successor and I was overlooked. The role was I wasn't even considered for the role they recruited externally and then expected me to train him as he was now the head of the department. But they wanted me to train him on kind of contract. I left, I I hands, did my resignation because I realized everybody was fucking mad. Do you know what that felt like, knowing that you're overqualified to do a role? But you're doing the role, you're in situ, you want to learn, you want to grow, and then you are the natural successor because of experience, by virtue of your education but also what you've delivered as part of your role. Right, and anyone who has been there um before you has left. You are the natural successor and then the, the, the director or the head of department leaves and then you're called into a meeting with a manager. So you're called into a meeting with the department head and the department head basically says to you you know, I just want your support, you know your integral part of the team, not realizing that you're being buttered up to ensure that you don't leave because don't want to um affect team morale, sojourn morale, black woman, toyah. But then they hire someone in and he himself had very limited experience in our sector. He just had industry experience and that trumped me.
Speaker 1:When you are aiming for success in your career, whatever that looks like, you will be a Kamala Harris. You will be overqualified as entry into the industry. But to be constantly overqualified and overlooked at the same time for certain roles is a tough pill to swallow. And this is one of the reasons I went contracting because I realized that in order to climb that career ladder really quickly, I needed to work in different organizations and gain my own experience, be the architect of my career in that way. I recognise that not everybody has the opportunity or wants to take the risk of being a contractor, but if that's the case, you have to have a plan for your career, otherwise you're constantly going to be overlooked. You're never actually going to reach your full potential because you're going to be overlooked and actually you're always going to be overqualified. And I think the starting position is to accept that. In fact, I'm now at a point in my career where I accept that I'm often going to be overqualified and that's okay.
Speaker 1:But I don't sit in my quote-unquote over-qualification as a comfortable seat I always see, as I'm only as over-qualified as the next thing I need to learn. My role is also to know more than my boss. In any position I'm in, I need to know more than my boss, because my boss needs to understand I'm a safe pair of hands and I need to leverage that for my either my next opportunity or my promotion and my bonus, because I'm not just interested in the bonus, I'm also in interested in trajectory of my career as part of that bonus. Career planning is so important because if you do not have the, the reflection, the reflective career planning within yourself, you could find yourself in the same job for 10 years and just collecting pay increments and periodic pay rises, and that, to me, is not enough. It's not enough because I want to get to a point in my career where I've climbed up that succession ladder of seniority and I've realised money, job, talent, experience that I'm able to go into other big organisations within my industry and consult for them on big projects, organisations within my industry and consult for them on big projects. Or, you know, retire and be like a guest lecturer. That's my like, one of my career goals and I have a few. That's one of them In my career in the industry I'm in, there is a lot of potential for growth, but what continues to make me uncomfortable is I'm not seeing people that look like me in those senior roles I used to.
Speaker 1:I used to not then see myself and and it's easy to not see yourself, but why can't I be the person that is, that person that you know that wants to be in that role? I guess the difficulty is do I not see somebody in the role that looks like me? Because the underpinning and undercurrent and the political landscape of this organization is to overlook a black woman? I haven't worked that out yet. I haven't. Or is it the case that, as a black woman, I should see myself there because I am overqualified enough and have more than enough potential to be in that role? What is it? I'm still trying to figure that out, but I think the reason why, or one of the reasons why, I wanted to discuss this in this podcast episode, is because overqualification is overqualification, unfortunately, is the starting position for most of us and rather than fighting against it, it's accepting and understanding what that means and how you're going to leverage that to your own advantage.
Speaker 1:Brendan Nwa-Chibbe is a care worker During the civil unrest and what we are now dubbing some of the worst treatment of ethnic minorities within the UK. He had his car torched. He had saved up for a while to buy this car, and he's a care worker, so he really needed his car to be able to do his job. And his car was torched by writers, racist writers. So the care worker, uh, the care organization that he worked for, decided to open a gofundme page for him, and, and on the GoFundMe page, I think that they had a certain you know, you can set how much you want to raise and they had done that and they had surpassed that. Bearing in mind, I think that they had initially, you know, thought they'd only make 3k for him and actually the generous public donated 65 000 pounds to his gofundme account, to his gofundme page. And then the two owners of the care work, the care organisation, decided to move the goalpost and they said that they were going to give him 3k and this is all alleged, allegedly 3k and the rest was going to go to other care workers in the organization who were affected by the race riots and to charity.
Speaker 1:And then there was uproar on social media, and I think we can understand why. Why do these two women get to dictate where that money goes? The whole premise for raising that money was for Brendan, and then, when they were being flogged on social media. That's when they decided to release a statement to say well, brendan requested 28,000 and he basically had unrealistic. He had an unrealistic approach to how he was going to spend the money. He said that he wanted X amount of thousands of pounds to buy a particular car. Then he wanted to pay off this, or he wanted to do that, and I was thinking he can spend the money on whatever he wants, and the first being that if the premise was a car, well, he's going to replace that car, but however else he spends, the rest of the money is up to him. Who are you to tell him how he should spend his money or try to discredit him? Well, they got called out. Social media whipped their backsides. I left a comment on social media and I said you know what he's better off? People are better off recalling their money and setting up an independent GoFundMe account for him, raising money for him which will probably exceed the 65 today, releasing the money to him, and then he gets to decide what he wants to do with it.
Speaker 1:Now, it doesn't go above my head that the two women who opened the GoFundMe were white women and they were talking about the impact of the media attention that was surrounding this, because obviously they hadn't anticipated that people would raise up to 65k. I think they were thinking people would raise maybe 200, 300. I don't even think they really thought it would be up to 3k. Talk less than 65k. But if the whole reason why Brendan's car was torched because of racism, do you not think you're exhibiting microaggressions with relation to the 65k that was raised? Because if we're gonna, if you're going to say it's for brendan, in which world do you think it's also okay to then, because it's exceeded, the money's exceeded your expectation, to then say your is going to be shared with his co-workers? That's not the reason why, or the objective of why, people were donating. And when did you get to the point where you were judged, jury and executor of their money? What you are is a, a fundraiser. You're not a custodian, you're just a fundraiser.
Speaker 1:And albeit that it was very nice that they wanted to open a GoFundMe and raise all this money, actually it's getting nice, nasty and this is how microaggressions operate. For those of you who don't know, if Brendan was a white man, man would they behave like that? You see, I've said this also because he's here on a visa and I want to say he's here on a studio visa, so he's only allowed to work 20 hours a week. He could really do with their money, because I'm sure he's got things to pay for bills, school tuition fees. Why can't he buy a car to replace the one that was burnt and then use the other money for anything else was used, without having to be held accountable to these two fragile women who are now leaning into their fragility because they're now claiming they're. They're stressed because social media held them to account, and I don't agree with harassment, bullying or any of that. But what I don't also agree with is out overdoing it in your capacity, because you feel like you have the power to do that, and you're operating in the privilege of your white fragility to try and strong arm and subdue this man who is at your mercy until social media got involved. It's disgusting. I have to keep a track of what's going on with their. Until social media got involved. It's disgusting. I have to keep a track of what's going on with that case. Actually, when I say that case, have they released the money to him? Is it all the money? Partly, I don't know, because the way the last correspondents I saw was that £28,000 will be given to him, but my question is what about the difference? Where's that money going? And this is why people should report all their money back and open a GoFundMe account in his name just for him and make sure he gets the money that people intended to give to him.
Speaker 1:I also placed a lot of responsibility on the media and the way media reports crime and the way media reports race as the backdrop of negativity. That happens. So, for example, they'll talk about, um, you know, illegal immigrants trying to cross the border, and then suddenly a story will take on a whole new meaning when looking at the issues to do with the lack of border controls in the UK. Suddenly, it becomes an immigrant issue and it becomes a race issue, and I feel like a lot of the narratives that are pushed by the media is always or 80%, about race and starts to create tension and starts to create tension.
Speaker 1:A classic example is Meghan Markle. She was hounded, she was discriminated against, she was disproportionately disadvantaged in the way that she was discussed and treated by the media in comparison to Kate Middleton, and if you use both of them as a comparator, as soon as I mean as soon as they had an opportunity to kind of discredit her. There was always a racial undertone as they discredit her Meghan Markle there was always a racial undertone to their attacks and if you use Meghan Markle as a comparator, they were treated completely different. And remember, meghan Markle was a mixed race woman who, up until when she basically relocated to the UK, she was white passing, because in the US that was, you know, straight, in the US that was you know, straight in the hair. She did certain things and also she was white passing in her appearance. I don't think she was racially ambiguous, I think it was more white passing. I think she had a shock anyway when her being white passing did not fly, or it didn't fly here in the UK because you know she's mixed race. But I think what was more shocking to her is how race played a part in the way in which the media treated her and and personally I think the media are really really powerful even the way they would, they reported the civil unrest and the riots. I think that the reporting I think when they realized that people were onto them in terms of the race baiting in the reporting, I think the reporting then became more of a reflection of the negative treatment of immigrants in the UK, but obviously they're not gonna lay blame where it should sit, which is with the media. But I think we saw a little bit more balance in the reporting. But I definitely also think when I say a little more balance, what I mean is it was still racist, by the way. But the balance is you can't run away from the fact that it was EZL and you know a lot of racist non, a lot of racist white people who were pushing a narrative and the media couldn't run away from reporting it because that was who was on the front line of these racial riots, if you like. I think it's important.
Speaker 1:I think it was important in this episode to talk about Kamala Harris and being overqualified, because I think it is a bug. I think it's a bit of a um, a sensitive topic. When we talk about and apply it to the world of work, it becomes a what they call it, a bug bear. But it's one of those things that you can't run away from, especially as a black woman, and I always think to myself whenever I see a black woman in a position or a senior position and in a position of where she is a minority. She or he is a minority. I always think about how quant, how overqualified has that person had to be to get to that position and what sacrifices have they had to make? Have they sold their soul? Those are all the things that I think about. I'm hoping that this episode brings light to a very much needed conversation about where we stand in, what qualifies us for certain positions and how, unfortunately, we have to be accepting of the fact that we are overqualified to be able to get through the door. But it's what you do with that qualification and it's how you are able to grow, pivot, mature, become and remain a subject matter expert in your field.
Speaker 1:I hope that you found this episode useful. I hope that you found it helpful. I have received some dynamos in the mailbox and in the next episode of the toy talks podcast I definitely will be addressing them and discussing them. I apologize if they're slightly out of date, ie not within the first two to four weeks in which you've sent them, but we're trying our best over here and we're understanding that we have a body of work here at the toy talks podcast that can often and as frequently as you like be revisited, and the episodes I put out are as and when I think there's something to talk about, and it could be every week, it could be every month, it could be once every two months, but it doesn't go above my head the people that continue to tune in and listen.
Speaker 1:I see all um the charts in which the toy talks podcast charts Nigeria, oman, saudi Arabia, ghana, nigeria, sometimes the UK, but we know, like in the UK, are they always going to reflect the diverse podcasts that exist here in the UK and really have a chart that encourages certain conversations? I don't know. I'm questioning the impartiality of these charts, by the way, um, but I'm saying this all to say that I really appreciate everybody that listens. Um, part of allyship is also recognizing, acknowledging where your privilege sits, and I'm hoping that you know the Toy Talks podcast is also an educational tool for everybody to be able to come, learn, grow and actively recognise some of the issues that we are discussing here on the Toy Tools podcast. I definitely feel the podcast is needed to be able to create safe spaces for people who look like me, because Black women, we are often underrepresented and overlooked, not because of anything more than the fact that we are black women. It often gets really tiring to constantly be gaslit and the micro and macro aggression that follow it. So I'm hoping that Toy Talks continues to create a safe space for what would be uncomfortable conversation, but what is commonplace of conversation for black women like myself who need an opportunity to have these discussions and have a positive way forward in either looking at a situation or overcoming a situation. That's what I'm hoping through the podcast.
Speaker 1:Thank you for all your love, thank you for all your support, thank you for listening, thank you for sharing the podcast, thank you for sharing the episodes and thank you for sticking with the Toy Talk podcast, because I understand the value of time and when you create time to receive the podcast episodes, I feel very blessed and I just want to thank each and every one of you for the love and support. If you want to follow me on social media for my personal uh instagram, which is toy underscore, washington, I will say that my private instagram is um, which is it locked or whatever? You have to request and hopefully your energy is good. If I feel the energy is good, I accept. I also have my tiktok account, which is toy underscore, washington. If you want to send in a dilemma, um, even if it's a life-related dilemma that you think we're able to help with, it will be read out anonymously. Your identity will be protected. Your anonymity will be protected. Email hello at toytalkscom and in the subject box, just write it's a dilemma. Just write dilemma and maybe a brief short description on what the dilemma is, or just a title, and in the next episode of the toy talks podcast I'll be reading out dilemmas and hopefully, hopefully, hopefully sorry can't speak hopefully providing um some much needed advice.
Speaker 1:I also want to say this is not sponsored by way, but I previously used to drink trip drinks. There's a cbd infused and they're amazing. I honestly, honestly, will say I have a better quality sleep when I drink a trip drink and I don't know if you can tell I have drunk one and literally I just need to go and lie down and literally sleep like a newborn baby. But I say this because there's a lot of us that are over stimulated, under a lot of pressure at work, maybe even dealing with stress. I myself do not drink alcohol. I have come close, especially with stressful work places. However, I've always kind of like avoided alcohol. I don't drink it. But these CBD infused trip drinks are so good. Um, they have different flavors. I'm currently on um. I had elderflower last week and this week is lemon and basil and there's one orange one. I can't remember what the flavor that is, but I really highly recommend that if you're open-minded and you want a cbd infused drink. Apparently the oils are really good, but I I'd recommend Tripp, especially if you're a low iron babe and you're taking your supplements and you just need just to relax because you're just overstressed and overstimulated.
Speaker 1:This is not sponsored, it's just me sharing what I am loving at the moment. I used to drink them before and then I stopped. I don't know why, but I'm back on it now, thanks to my friend Sab. I appreciate you so much. She bought me a caseload and I literally finished them last week, so I bought some more today. But yep, that's trip CBD infused drinks and let me know your thoughts. Hopefully you enjoy it. I want to thank you for listening to this episode, thank you for joining me and thank you for your love and support. My name is Toya Washington and you have been listening to the Toya Talks podcast.