June 1, 1998 - March 31, 2020
I lasted 20 years and 10 months…it was time. In fact, I stayed 5 years longer than I thought. When Mike got his new job which required relocating to California, I thought I was done. But then a role in the Foodservice Division working on deals opened up, and I spent the next 5 years sitting on the 405 between LA and Irvine. Still, it was worth it. I liked working in Sales, which was infinitely easier and more fun than the previous two decades in Finance.
We Gen X women had been told to Lean In, speak up, get leadership skills and global experience. I lead teams, was comfortable speaking in front of hundreds of people, negotiated and won new business that had never been done before. I had a seat on the leadership team, in the inner circle, in spite of being the lowest ranking person. I built trust, made things happen, covered for my boss.
But it was not enough. Like so many minorities and women before me - now that I was invited to participate on hiring panels, I had a front row view of how Corporate America really works. All three of us panelists had aligned on a candidate, only to have our recommendation usurped by someone with more power, who could easily circumvent the process, and place a less qualified, generally white male in the position. I have plenty of examples. But Darwinism being what it is, the next time there was a a round of layoffs: SOA, S2, Zero-based budgeting, BTO - these men were gone. I was still there.
Veronica Chambers says it better than me: “I grew up with that Olivia Pope mentality that as someone with my race and gender, you have to work twice as hard to get half as far. I think that also meant that I had to work twice as hard to gather half the courage it took to quit a workplace that did not deserve my talents but still benefited from my excellence. It was hard to walk away from what looked, at least on paper, like a very good job.”
The pay was pretty good. I waited out two rounds of bonuses before leaving, stashing it in savings for a rainy day. I asked for a exit interview. HR said someone would reach out to me to schedule it, but nobody ever did. I filled out a generic form online instead. For all the window dressing that has been put up since the lawsuit two decades ago, little has changed, and little will change. My dental hygienist, the same Atlanta practice that Muhtar Kent went to, asked my opinion one day: “Do you think there will be a female CEO of Coca-Cola or a female President of the United States first?” It’s 2020, and the answer still looks like “neither”.
So, a former VP at Coke has hired me to the start-up where he’s the CEO. I will have to work harder than before, but it will be more fun. I got a VP title and the pay that I never would have gotten, had I stayed at Coke. So, I’ll take the good memories and friendships with me, but it’s a new day.