Werk Stories Podcast: Women Of Color In The Workplace

 Sometimes, dreams come true. However, instead of envisioning dreams as a passive, internally focused wish fulfillment, Joi Louviere took it as a challenge to work as hard as possible to win the competition.

The podcast pitch competition took place on June 13, 2021, at that year’s CultureCon At Home event.

The Creative Collective NYC’s annual conference, CultureCon, hosted break-out rooms, one-on-one chats, mentorship office hours, and skill-building workshops with a lineup that included Michael B. Jordan, Chloe x Halle, Regina Hall, and Ziwe.

The contest invited creatives to submit proposals for podcast ideas to win a laptop, a microphone, free podcast hosting with Acast for one year, audio editing software, and office hours with an Acast team member.

Louviere says of her pitch, “Werk Stories is a home for women of color to share their workplace experiences. Unfiltered, this space lends itself as a supportive community for the shocking realities of melanated employees everywhere.”

Louviere won the pitch competition, and what resulted was an Acast podcast called Werk Stories. 

Louviere explains the mission statement she crafted for her project: "Werk Stories is a place for women of color to share their experiences in the workplace. We’re talking bias, equal pay, bad bosses, racist hiring practices, and crazy things your coworkers have done and said to you…this is the safe place where you can tell these stories. Allies strongly encouraged to listen!"

Joi Louviere is a Senior Communications and Marketing Manager at Get Schooled in Dallas, Texas. Get Schooled helps young people with their life and career goals after high school. 

Birthed out of back-to-back discriminatory work experiences, Louviere decided to turn her trauma into a community by developing a safe space for other Black women and women of color to speak about the things that have happened to them in their workplaces.

Louviere observes on the podcast's website: "By opening up, women of color can empower each other to persevere and know that they are not alone. Werk Stories works with therapists, HR professionals, and employment lawyers to provide advice on how this community can best create change in their industries."

 Louviere implores her listeners to: "Take this journey with us and listen to the stories of these amazing women, and most importantly, believe them!"

As a host, Louviere is a natural, with a voice that bleeds sincerity and concern for the women who relate their stories in her episodes. As a creator, the podcast's production values are solid, the background music emits a young, hip vibe without intruding, and the show flows nicely. Louviere is a talented interviewer who helps her guests unravel their narratives without judgment or unnecessary interruptions. Each episode lasts less than 30 minutes, which seems to be perfect timing and a smart podcast strategy decision by Louviere.

Werk Stories has essentially two types of episodes. The first is actual "Werk Stories" of women of color who have experienced blockades and setbacks due to discrimination. The second are episodes with successful women of note who can create a roadmap for overcoming these systemic barriers. 

For example, in December 2022, businesswoman Vanessa, who works for Prime, talked about multicultural marketing and working for big brands as a Black woman. 

 They discuss how being black, a woman, and young in corporations is a "triple threat." She also talks about her tech career, where she has worked mostly for white or Asian men, with few women and fewer black women in leadership positions.

Williams gives excellent advice about prospering in a corporate environment and discusses how she helps others with career strategy through Her Abundant Career initiative.

 In a November 2022 episode, product researcher Dani talks about being diagnosed as an adult with ADHD and how that evinces itself at work. There are more than ten million people with Adult ADHD. Dani's narrative is also an excellent transition into discussing the workplace for neurodiverse people.

One of the most interesting episodes was released on November 2021. The episode "Color Complicated: Stephanie Gallardo's Werk Story" introduced listeners to a candidate, Stephanie Gallardo, who was running in the Democratic primary for the ninth Congressional district. Gallardo was a teacher who became a union official and then an elected board member for the Washington Education Association and the National Education Association.

It was Gallardo's mixed ethnic background that spurred the most insightful dialogue. Gallardo is of Chilean and Mexican descent, and looks white, and passes as white. Others of Mexican heritage are darker and are treated differently. And that's the essential question here. 

If part of your heritage includes people of color, why are you treated better because you are perceived to be white? Such misguided perceptions are at the core of systemic racism. 

Now, having recommended Werk Stories as ear worthy, I freely admit that I am definitely not their core audience at all. I am an old white guy. And yes, I freely admit suffering none of those indignities the people in these episodes have endured. 

Yet, I think it's important that we crawl out of our comfort zones to hear about the different life experiences of others in our society and around the world. 

Hiding in our echo chambers such as Fox News, like too many do, only serves to insulate us from the stark realities of those who have vastly different heritage, history, and life experiences. 

As the poet, Walt Whitman, once said, "I do not ask the wounded person how they feel. I myself become the wounded person."

For women of color, Werk Stories is an excellent life resource because the podcast lets listeners know that they are not alone in their struggles. The episodes can communicate coping strategies and show pathways to success despite the added burden of being women of color.

Check out Werk Stories.