Where are all the black designers?

Did you know there are only 40% of user experience designers in the US are women? Shocking right? But did you know that only 3.4% of all user experience designers in the US are black? (According to Zippia). I did not.

My journey started with having a solid foundation in graphic design, working in the service industry, and teaching. I began a UX/UI immersive course in January that made me fall in love with UX. The ability to talk with people and understand their needs was what I did every day in all of my former jobs. My immersive program gave me the courage to leave my teaching job because I would have their support every step of the way to land a job. Wow, was I wrong.

What I didn't realize was the climate of the market for UXers. After graduating from my course I was applying for hundreds of jobs and my application was 1 of 1000. I'm not sure why I thought I'd be the "exception" to finding a job immediately if I worked hard enough. Then I started thinking about things like if I should wear my hair differently, as a black woman. Would my natural hair be too much? How much do I need to conform to nail an interview? I would hear stories about people of color changing their last names for a better chance of landing jobs!

In these last months, I've realized how important it is to be myself. If a company doesn't accept you for your authentic self, you do not want to work there anyways.