"We lead committees, guide students, and mentor colleagues-often while navigating systems not designed for our well-being. The demands can feel relentless: to produce, to prove, to persist. Beneath the polished professionalism, however, many of us are carrying invisible weight-the exhaustion of representation, the pressure to model resilience, and the ache of chronic racial stress. We give endlessly but rarely pause long enough to refill the well."
"In higher education, women of color often carry what I call a double duty of stress-the constant expectation to both excel and represent. We are expected to achieve at the highest levels while also embodying diversity, mentorship, and grace under pressure. This burden compounds what I describe as racial trauma-the cumulative emotional and physiological impact of navigating bias, microaggressions, and systemic inequities-and chronic stress, the prolonged activation of the body's stress response in environments that rarely affirm or protect us."
Women of color in higher education frequently carry a double duty of stress: delivering high performance while also representing diversity, mentoring others, and modeling resilience. Sustained exposure to bias, microaggressions, and systemic inequities produces racial trauma and chronic physiological stress, which can manifest as fatigue, irritability, self-doubt, and spiritual disconnection. Traditional Eurocentric leadership models reward control, image management, and productivity, amplifying emotional labor and the emotional tax of marginalized identities. Healing requires naming these experiences, practicing community care, prioritizing rest and joy, and adopting resonant leadership that centers humanity, empathy, authentic connection, and sustainable practices.
#women-of-color-leadership #racial-trauma-and-chronic-stress #resonant-leadership #joy-and-wellbeing
Read at Psychology Today
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