SHIFT YOUR OUTLOOK’

‘WHEN YOU DON’T FIT THE MOULD, YOU NEED TO

Yomi Adegoke, 29, journalist and author

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‘As a young Black woman who wasn’t privately educated, my presence in a lot of newsrooms feels like an aberration. Most workplaces are built around the default worker, which in my industry is a white man – journalism is 55% male and

94% white, and gets even more male towards the top. Because I knew that my workplace wasn’t built with me in mind, I spent a lot of time trying to assimilate, playing down elements of my identity to try to fit in. I started every meeting on the back foot, desperate to prove why my idea was interesting to someone with whom I had nothing in common. I spent so much energy trying to make sure that my colleagues and bosses wouldn’t simply focus on the things that made me different. Speaking to British

Vogue’s publishing director Vanessa Kingori helped disrupt this draining habit. She told me to lean into my difference, because by being Black and female, I’m hyper visible anyway – nothing’s going to change that – and there exists real value in a unique perspective. This shifted my outlook, helping me to feel comfortable enough to speak up in meetings, and show up at work as my entire self. The lesson? If you don’t feel like you fit in, remember that you wouldn’t be in that position if you hadn’t earned your stripes and proved your worth. And that’s where true confidence comes from.’

Yomi Adegoke is the co-author of Slay In Your Lane: The Black Girl Bible (£16.99, Harper Collins) and co-editor of Loud Black Girls (£14.99, Harper Collins)