Brown Girl in the Board Room

They will question your voice, your tone, your eyes
Or worse, they make you doubt your own designs 
They will scare you with fables of infamous lies
Make you waver every gesture in the quiet

“You are too loud. You take too much space,
Your words aren’t kind enough.

How do I stunt the growing vines? I ask
How do I sugarcoat when my truths are caramelized? 

My voice has left me, alone and betrayed
For the fear of me shutting it down once again

Why to reinvent the wheel, they said 
This is the path you were supposed to walk on, they said
This is the mold you are to set in, they said 
Your fierce spirit and the strength of your will 
Don’t belong here, so keep it at the curb

Retracing my mind’s steps
I ask, what went wrong? 
This space is a yes sector, I was told 
This is the room of acceptance and embrace, I was told

Yet.. 
You don’t ‘get along’ well, I was told
This idea cannot get approved, I was told
Once ruined, a rapport can’t be rebuilt, I was told

Your glory is built by compliance and devotion 
Your brilliance is carved out on hushes and whispers 

So pause. Take a deep breath, they said 
Let’s have another meeting to do a deeper dive they said 
Let’s reset the boundaries that you tried to cross
Let’s tap into rules and expectations you sought to escape 

The brown girl in the board room today, feels forlorn
Her tender heart is beating fast, baffled and puzzled 
Reflecting on lessons of the past 
Feeling stuck between the noise of arrogant rules 
And the fading hum of the scared truths 

Yet..
It brings her back the courage to bloom again
Persevere! Let your bruised wings heal 
You are meant to gallop but stand your ground 
You are destined to make the world see you come around