Did You Get the Memo?

Abstract

As we probe to understand the experiences of Black women administrators, we ask ourselves one central question: “Did you get the memo?” The authors encountered obstacles and opportunities throughout their leadership journeys, questioning how they missed the memo on career mobility as two established Black administrators at a minority-serving institution. As the saying goes, hindsight is 20/20; this research study aims to explore their lived experiences with mentorship and sponsorship and share career mobility tactical strategies to improve the pipeline for Black leaders in the academy. To do so, they applied a duo ethnography methodology that embraced the notion of narratives and storytelling and—framed by Collin's Black Feminist Thought—to amplify intersectional experiences and views by giving voice to their unique experiences as Black women administrators.