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new here? welcome.
i’m MarKeisha—Director of AI Security Governance + career strategist with 6+ years helping professionals level up, pivot into tech/cyber, and start moving like executives.
i’ve been in cybersecurity for 7+ years and tech even longer, so i don’t teach theory. i teach what actually works in today’s market.
if you’re tired of applying and getting ghosted, wants interviews + offers faster, start with my job search strategy guide: payhip.com/b/p85QV
i’m MarKeisha—Director of AI Security Governance + career strategist with 6+ years helping professionals level up, pivot into tech/cyber, and start moving like executives.
i’ve been in cybersecurity for 7+ years and tech even longer, so i don’t teach theory. i teach what actually works in today’s market.
if you’re tired of applying and getting ghosted, wants interviews + offers faster, start with my job search strategy guide: payhip.com/b/p85QV
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34 years in the industry. $12M-$14M net worth. *holds head*
Taraji P. Henson asked for $500,000 to play Brad Pitt's mother. She got $150,000 and says about $30,000 of it was left. The movie made $335 million.
In the video below, Gayle King asks if she's quitting acting. Taraji covers her face and cries before she can say a word. Then she
In 2008 she was third on the call sheet for The Curious Case of Benjamin Button, behind Pitt and Cate Blanchett. Her 2016 memoir says she'd been promised "somewhere in the mid six figures." At a 2023 SAG-AFTRA event she said she asked for $500,000 and was first offered $100,000.
It came up to $150,000 with a condition. She had to cover three months of New Orleans hotel bills herself. "Insult, meet injury," she wrote.
On The Real she did the sum. Half the $150,000 went to taxes. Her team took 30% of the full fee, $45,000. That left $30,000, and her son's school tuition that year was $30,000. "Literally, for five months, that's what I made."
The memoir puts her pay at less than 2% of what the studio paid the top name on that call sheet, Pitt.
She got an Oscar nomination for the role. Fifteen years later she said she almost walked away from The Color Purple over pay. That same month she told Gayle King: "Every time I do something and I break another glass ceiling, when it's time to renegotiate, I'm at the bottom again."
The case for the studio: Pitt sold the tickets, and she doesn't dispute his money. "They deserve to earn what they get," she said of Pitt and Blanchett.
Her side: "I too worked my ass off, and at the time I couldn't say no. I didn't have any power."
$335 million at the box office. An Oscar nomination. One year of school fees.
Every day, one star's real paycheck.
Was that Hollywood paying for box office power, or paying a Black woman less because it could?
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the willingness to take the fucking shot?!WHY NOT!
some people will apply when they meet 50% of the requirements. they’ll ask somebody to refer them, they’ll negotiate, they’ll stretch how they describe their experience, they’ll get in the room and trust themselves to figure out the rest.
meanwhile, a lot of black professionals have been conditioned to believe we need every certification, every degree, every year of experience and darn near a signed letter from God before we’re “qualified” enough to apply; and then we wonder why we’re still standing outside rooms watching other people figure it out from the inside.
i’m not telling anybody to lie. i am saying maybe we have to stop believing that playing everything perfectly safe is going to save us. especially when the system has never been equally safe for us in the first place.
take the risk, apply, ask, negotiate, build the relationship, learn what you don’t know, and
stop disqualifying yourself before anybody else gets the chance to.
some people will apply when they meet 50% of the requirements. they’ll ask somebody to refer them, they’ll negotiate, they’ll stretch how they describe their experience, they’ll get in the room and trust themselves to figure out the rest.
meanwhile, a lot of black professionals have been conditioned to believe we need every certification, every degree, every year of experience and darn near a signed letter from God before we’re “qualified” enough to apply; and then we wonder why we’re still standing outside rooms watching other people figure it out from the inside.
i’m not telling anybody to lie. i am saying maybe we have to stop believing that playing everything perfectly safe is going to save us. especially when the system has never been equally safe for us in the first place.
take the risk, apply, ask, negotiate, build the relationship, learn what you don’t know, and
stop disqualifying yourself before anybody else gets the chance to.
Soooooo lie on that resume? 👀😬
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pulled up to home depot and parked right in that ‘pro customer parking’ space. yes, ma’am.
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#verity is one twisted movie! my gosh!
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i understand not wanting to socialize with people you have absolutely nothing in common with, and being pulled into a meeting because you declined an invitation to the pub is ridiculous, but i want people to understand something about corporate america: being good at your job and knowing how to advance your career are two very different skill sets.
you can be the hardest-working, most technically competent person in the room and still watch someone less qualified get promoted ahead of you. why? because career progression isn’t determined by performance alone. relationships matter, visibility matters. sponsorship matters, and social capital is a form of currency in corporate environments.
you have options:
- build relationships during working hours through coffee chats, lunches, cross-functional projects, and meaningful conversations.
- develop relationships with decision-makers, not just the people you work alongside every day.
- find sponsors who will advocate for you in rooms you’re not invited into.
- be intentional about your visibility. don’t assume people know the value you’re delivering simply because you’re doing the work.
- learn to navigate organizational politics without compromising your values.
- recognize when the culture of an organization is fundamentally incompatible with who you are and make your exit strategically.
now, if leadership equates drinking, socializing after hours, or participating in activities outside your comfort zone with being a team player, that tells you something about the culture. but if you’re consistently declining opportunities to build relationships, refusing to engage beyond your immediate responsibilities, and expecting your work to speak entirely for itself, you may be limiting your own progression.
you can reject the culture without rejecting the importance of connection and you can understand the game without agreeing to every rule.
you can be the hardest-working, most technically competent person in the room and still watch someone less qualified get promoted ahead of you. why? because career progression isn’t determined by performance alone. relationships matter, visibility matters. sponsorship matters, and social capital is a form of currency in corporate environments.
you have options:
- build relationships during working hours through coffee chats, lunches, cross-functional projects, and meaningful conversations.
- develop relationships with decision-makers, not just the people you work alongside every day.
- find sponsors who will advocate for you in rooms you’re not invited into.
- be intentional about your visibility. don’t assume people know the value you’re delivering simply because you’re doing the work.
- learn to navigate organizational politics without compromising your values.
- recognize when the culture of an organization is fundamentally incompatible with who you are and make your exit strategically.
now, if leadership equates drinking, socializing after hours, or participating in activities outside your comfort zone with being a team player, that tells you something about the culture. but if you’re consistently declining opportunities to build relationships, refusing to engage beyond your immediate responsibilities, and expecting your work to speak entirely for itself, you may be limiting your own progression.
you can reject the culture without rejecting the importance of connection and you can understand the game without agreeing to every rule.
Sorry but I’m with her on this. I feel like corporate doesn’t take in our cultural differences and they only focus on what THEY like.
I’m sure if they told her they were going to EADN she’d go. Personally, you won’t find me in a PUB! 🍻
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this man right here! this man right here! 🫰🏾
I've been in politics for a quarter century. It's hard to express how staggering it is to see a conversation like this on corporate US media. The Morning Joe panel gobsmacked by the directness of @AbdulElSayed's points.
(clip via @DropSiteNews)
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i hate rewatching myself talk on podcasts. 😩 i just let people reach out and share their thoughts.
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i understand i’m black, but my posts aren’t only ever referencing black people unless i explicitly say so. thank you!
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