Episode 8

Ep. 8 | Vanessa E. Anyanso • Lifting the Weight of Being Black in America

Published on: 7th April, 2021

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Vanessa Anyanso is a Nigerian-American Counseling Psychology student born and raised in the suburbs of Washington, D.C. She earned her BA in Psychology from Columbia University and spent two years working as a Clinical Research Coordinator at the University of Pennsylvania before coming to the University of Minnesota. She is broadly interested in Black mental health with a focus on Black women and other Black people with intersecting marginalized identities.

She is also the host of PhDiversity Podcast which focuses on two broad goals: demystifying the path to a Psychology PhD program and sharing counseling psychology content knowledge with a focus on diversity. She aims to share tips and knowledge she wished she had when applying and entering graduate school and to highlight the areas of her field that could benefit from a multicultural lens.

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About the Podcast

The Only Black Girl On Mars
A Black Female Perspective on Navigating White America
Simply put, being a woman of color in the working world is weird. It can feel like an otherworldly experience. As a whole, we continue to run into obstacles when it comes to corporate growth, and often it can be difficult to fit in when you are the only person of color on a team or in a department.
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Join, Andrea Kwamya, host and founder of BGOM Consulting, as she sits down with special guests to discuss various nuances of life, work, mental health, and social situations through the lens of an empowered black woman.

Welcome to the Only Black Girl on Mars!
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Andrea Kwamya

Andrea Kwamya is an LA/NYC Diversity and Comms Specialist of proud Ghanaian and Ugandan descent. She has been working in the corporate world for over seven years in industries ranging from tech, fashion, and entertainment. No matter where she went, she was the only person of color on her team and struggled to find authentic ways to express herself while dealing with the added pressure of representing black excellence.

As she moved through the landscape, things seemed to improve, but in her first consulting role, she later learned that she was the only analyst receiving 23% below the baseline salary. The final straw occurred in 2019 when her older sister was in a car accident. After spending 4 business days in the ICU with her family, awaiting the end of a 10-hour surgery, she received an email telling her that if she did not return to the office right away, she was at risk of work abandonment.

Since then, it became her goal to prevent other young women, from having to go through the same unacceptable treatment and pitfalls that often present themselves along the way in white corporate America. Being the only one can make you feel special, but quickly you realize, there is a true strength is taking the journey together.
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Andrea is an Alum of Columbia University and Ithaca College. She has been a diversity educator for more than ten years and a part-time teacher since 2011. Andrea loves giving back and a mentor and sharing her knowledge with whoever is seeking ways to improve themselves.