fbpx
This Career Coach is Helping Black Women Increase Their Salaries and Know Their Worth
by Yasmine Jameelah
SHARE ARTICLE
LEFT TO READ

minutes

PUBLISHED ON

January 6, 2022

ARTICLE LENGTH

11 Minute Read

SHARE ARTICLE
CONTRIBUTOR

This Career Coach is Helping Black Women Increase Their Salaries and Know Their Worth

Dr. Tega Edwin (Courtesy of Dr. Tega Edwin)
Dr. Tega Edwin (Courtesy of Dr. Tega Edwin)

Now more than ever, Black women are addressing the wage gap and discussing fair compensation. With initiatives like Black Women’s Equal Pay Day, we’ve turned a corner as a community and reminded each other that we deserve fair compensation. Dr. Tega Edwin, Ph.D., career counselor, and coach is one of the many women leading the charge by teaching her clients the keys to discovering a fulfilling career and job search with confidence. According to this Forbes report, January is the best time of year to find a new job — so before you hit send on that application, consider Dr. Edwin’s advice on increasing your pay.  

Black Love: How did you become a career counselor? Take us through that journey.

Dr. Edwin: My journey started with doing healthcare research, and I was absolutely miserable. I was stuck in a job that didn’t align with who I was, and it caused me to start doubting myself and my skills. One day, I simply decided that I wasn’t created to be miserable. I recognized that to find aligned work; I would have to first figure out who I was.

After going back to school and experiencing a few career pivots, I realized I wanted to start a business that reflected me and my love for helping clients. And who I am is an advocate for women. Often women are so disenfranchised in their careers, and we make career choices based on outside pressures like family, partners, etc. We’re fed so many lies about what’s possible for us at work. So setting up a career development company focused on helping women advance in their careers was a no-brainer for me. And so, Her Career Doctor was born.

Black Love: So many statistics show how Black women are the most educated and simultaneously the most underpaid. How do we address this inequality?

Dr. Edwin: I think the solution to this is both individual and systemic. Individual, in that many Black women aren’t taught how to negotiate. In fact, a lot of women aren’t taught to negotiate at all, not to mention how to do it. But I’m slowly seeing that change.

The thing I always tell my clients is that while a solid organization will not lowball you, most will. If a company could get away with paying you less, why wouldn’t they?

The analogy I always use is, say a plumber comes to do work for you, and after the work is done, on their way out, they say, “You can pay me $5 of $50, it’s up to you.” What would you pay? I don’t know about you, but I would pay $5, maybe $20 if I felt generous. Most hiring managers approach hiring this way; they try to get away with paying the least they can to save money. The onus is on the candidates to negotiate. Negotiation is not optional, always assume they haven’t presented you with their best offer. Simultaneously, it’s important to note that there’s research saying women don’t see favorably when they negotiate – even though most hiring managers are impressed when they do. It’s a catch-22. This is why working with a coach who can help you develop your negotiation skills and strategy is important.

It’s systemic in that Black women are often taken for granted in most organizations. They’re simply not valued for their expertise and awesomeness (this is why assessing a company’s values is so important). There are countless stories of Black women leaving a role and the company needing to hire three people to fill that position. Organizations need to do a lot better. 



Black Love: What do you find is your biggest hurdle with clients as they discover what it means to truly enjoy a career?

Dr. Edwin: Their mindset. Many women I work with are struggling with myths and emotions that can present as mindset barriers. One of the major ones is fear. Fear of the transition not working out, that there’s no fulfilling career out there, and that they don’t have what it takes. Before they work with me, many of my clients don’t even know how their thoughts, beliefs, and emotions have been blocking them. That’s the work we do together.

Black Love: Do you think that a dream job exists?

Dr. Edwin: Absolutely not! I think the dream job is like a dream man – it’s a myth. It’s been fantasized and fetishized. I believe there are multiple fulfilling career options out there for each of us. And like any relationship, finding the right one takes work. Staying fulfilled in the role takes reflection. And knowing when to leave a role that’s no longer serving you takes awareness. But many people have a false sense of loyalty to organizations that don’t serve them and often stay in jobs past their expiration date.

BlackLove.com Related Articles:
How the Country’s Largest Black-Owned Bank is Helping to Close the Racial Wealth Gap
Money Management: Leveling Up in Uncertainty
Money Expert Tonya Rapley on How to Survive and Thrive in an Economic Crisis

Black Love: As a career counselor, what does self-love mean to you?

Dr. Edwin: Self-love to me means living in alignment with yourself. Making choices that honor who you are at your core while establishing and maintaining boundaries that force others to honor that also. And those choices include your career. 

Self-love to me means living in alignment with yourself. Making choices that honor who you are at your core while establishing and maintaining boundaries that force others to honor that also. And those choices include your career. 

We’ll spend over 90,000 hours at work over our adult lifetime — being miserable for that much of your life isn’t self-love. Especially when you have the ability to do something about it.

Your career is a great way to live out your purpose, but you can’t do that if your career is out of alignment with who you are. But finding alignment requires actually knowing who you are because how do you align with something you don’t know?

Dr. Tega Edwin (Courtesy of Dr. Tega Edwin)
Dr. Tega Edwin (Courtesy of Dr. Tega Edwin)

Black Love: What tips can you share with women looking to advocate for themselves in 2022 in the workplace to increase their pay?

Dr. Edwin: First, if you want to stay in your current organization, start keeping track of your accomplishments and responsibilities. You’ll need to present receipts for how you’ve positively impacted your organization when you ask for a raise. And note that you can initiate the raise conversation. In fact, it’s best if you do. If you’re waiting until evaluation season, it’s already too late.

Second, the best way to gain a significant pay increase is by changing jobs. Most companies will give you a 3-5% raise each cycle. When switching jobs, you can get anywhere from a 10 – 300% increase when you switch jobs. Last year I helped a client secure a 284% increase. This is why I tell people your current job has an expiration date. Unless you’re in a super awesome organization and maybe get a massive promotion, most companies will cap how much your compensation can increase by each year.

Third, work on your mindset. Remember that negotiation is not optional. What is for you will not pass you by. You are the sauce. You deserve to be well compensated for all the value you bring to an organization, and your perspective as a Black woman is a unique value-add that must be compensated.

JOIN THE CONVERSATION