I’ve heard of Minda Harts book ‘The Memo’ when I was an active, engaged participant on Twitter. So I was familiar with the premise of her book. Then I saw her book was being adapted into a short film by Seed Media Company. Recently I stumbled across what I thought was the short film but I believe it to be the first episode of the series that will also be associated with the book. Okay that’s the back story now let’s get to what I felt as I was watching “Minda” on screen.
Minda is astute at the work she does or she wouldn’t have been recognized by Forbes. So she’s a rockstar at work until someone comes back to work. And this woman is immediately sizing Minda up without knowing or getting to know her. I’ve personally dealt with people who only wanted to get to know me to see who had the better resume, credentials or experience. To be honest, if you focus on yourself, your success can’t be computed by anyone else. I digress. Minda made a casual comment in the Forbes article and that started a chain of microaggressions, slander and accusations. Oh don’t I know how that feels. My own blog post was used against me when I was just sharing an experience and someone (hey looky loo) I wasn’t even thinking about let alone mentioned stated that I wrote an entire blog post about her. Well sweetie, you’re not important enough for me to take time to do that. But watching Minda deal with that in the video triggered me in a way that resonated with how casual comments are taken out of context.
Minda was called into HR. Hello, raises hand. And things just spiraled from there. I felt infuriated watching as something that had nothing to do with the other person at the job was weaponized against Minda because the other lady was intimidated that Minda had and owned agency over her thoughts, work and standards.
I too had the misfortune to experience how unsafe a space can be for a Black woman navigating a corporate space speaking up for what was best for staff, enforcing my boundaries so I was comfortable while dealing with uncalled for behavior and seeing how I was only celebrated when it made others look good but when my competency was seen as a threat then attacks were made to put me back in line.
Just like Minda I loved the work that I was doing and was exceptional at it. I dealt with unsavory slander and expectation & standards no one else was held to. It was heartbreaking but God healed that right up with a quickness. The peace that God gave me to make the decision I did let me know that my Memo season came to an end. Now it’s time for me to write a new memo for my career that’s not triggering.
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