Yorkville University’s Dr. Kimber Shelton recently treated Pitch Masters podcast listeners to an “eye-opening” discussion about the additional emotional and psychological labours BIPOC individuals face in the workplace and other professional settings.
“Last week I interviewed the incredible Kimber Shelton. The plan was to discuss the psychology behind pitching – how we perceive each other as humans and how we can influence that perception via psychological means. And while we did talk about those things, we also fell into the topic of race, and I had some epiphanic moments,” Pitch Masters host Danny Fontaine said of his conversation with the Master of Arts in Counselling Psychology professor in a recent LinkedIn post.
“The episode was enlightening, at some points emotional, and also full of amazing psychological insights on pitching and communicating: cognitive distortion, all-or-nothing thinking, mirror neurons, eye contact and a whole lot more.”
Indeed, over the course of the 75-minute episode, Shelton discussed all the additional considerations BIPOC individuals often confront before pitching an idea, applying for a new job, or presenting at work – a whole host of supplementary labours she said have “little to do with our skill, competence, or product.”
“As people of colour, we also are forced to consider: ‘What will they think of my professional appearance?’ ‘Is there a need for code-switching?’ And ‘What assumptions might they make about me based on my ethnicity, sex, culture?’” said Shelton, author of A Handbook on Counseling African American Women.
“And then, what happens when BIPOC experience microaggressions? Is it realistic that we address them during a pitch or interview? How will that impact the pitch or application? What happens internally when we swallow these microaggressions? I am exhausted even thinking about these things that have nothing to do with showing our qualifications or abilities!”
To learn more, listen to Shelton and Fontaine’s entire conversation on the Pitch Masters podcast HERE.
