It was a chilly morning in the city of Austin, Texas on the day my life was changed. I was sitting at the dining table with mom, sipping a cup of coffee, and browsing the want ads in the newspaper as she read the headline news. Mom, a beautiful woman born in Shreveport, Louisiana, was fifty-one years old with a taller than average height, a slender physique, caramel-colored skin as smooth as silk, and glistening green eyes. She had long, shiny black hair, dressed with a modest elegance, and had a personality that could charm a poisonous snake.
Mom adopted me when I was born and named me Ebony to highlight the beauty she saw in my dark skin. And although I didn't look anything like her, she was an amazing parent to me and was great in so many ways. The want ads, on the other hand, were not so great. Jobs that I was qualified for and that also paid well were far and few between, and I was tired of working dead-end jobs that made it hard to make ends meet.
As I wadded the want ads into a ball, mom sensed my frustration, put down her newspaper, and placed her hand on top of mine.
"You can stay long as ya like, Ebony," she said, with love in her eyes. "But don’t worry. God has a way of workin' things out."
Mom’s words were encouraging, but it was her gentle touch that comforted me the most, and I was at a point in my life where I really needed comforting. At twenty-eight years old, I was going through a divorce, living with mom in her small, one-bedroom apartment, and trying to get my son back from what was supposed to be a summer vacation in New York with his father.
As I thanked mom for her support, the phone rang. It was a call from a woman at the temp agency I had signed up with two weeks earlier.
"Daebrun Career Institute needs a Secretary," she said. "It’s a temp position that pays sixteen dollars and eighty-three cents an hour, the equivalent of thirty-five thousand dollars a year. Are you interested?"
Heck Yeah! That’s a lot of mula! I thought to myself, before calmly verbalizing my interest.
And that’s where my story begins, with the call that changed my life in the best way, and also the worst way. The call that began my six-figure career in higher education, and my descent into racial discrimination Hell.
When I hung up the phone, I was smiling from ear-to-ear and couldn’t wait to share the good news with mom. Mom was thrilled.
"I told ya God has a way of workin' things out," she said. "All ya gotta do is believe."
The temp assignment wasn’t a full-time job and didn’t have any benefits. So, you’re probably wondering why I was so excited. The reason is really quite simple. For the first time in my life I had gotten my foot in the door with a company that had real career potential. Daebrun Career Institute was a popular for-profit college with multiple campuses located in the United States, including several campuses in the State of Texas. I had seen Daebrun’s commercials on television, and even considered enrolling in one of their degree programs. Working in higher education, even as a temp, was a step in the right direction as far as I was concerned.
In January 2012, my journey at Daebrun's main campus began in the same city where I lived, and from the very first day, it felt like home. Everything from the environment to the type of work I was doing was amazing. I was in perfect sync with the Chancellor, Dr. Hunter Hall, a professional, distinguished-looking man in his fifties, who exuded confidence and was as tall as a pro basketball player. He was a handsome man with tanned skin, fashionably styled salt and pepper hair, and an athletic physique. His eyes were greener than an emerald, and there was a warmth and kindness about him that immediately put me at ease.
Although Dr. Hall was the most powerful person on campus, he took me under his wing, and treated me much like the father figure I'd never had. I developed an instant respect for him and used the computer skills I taught myself at a safehouse for abused women to impress him. And impressed he was! He was amazed with my ability to manage budgets, prepare meeting minutes, and develop presentations, and he showed his appreciation every day. I enjoyed my job and planned to work for Dr. Hall and Daebrun for many years to come.
After working on my temp assignment for two months, Dr. Hall called me to his office to meet with him.
"You're the best assistant I’ve ever had," he said, with a smile. "And the only one that reminds me of a Nubian queen I saw in a movie yesterday."
"Thank you," I said, with a slight giggle. "It's my braids, isn't it?"
I had been styling my hair in dookie braids for the last two years because they were easy to do, and I always received so many compliments.
"Yes, it's your braids," he said, with a warm smile.
Then he said he was going to buy out my contract with the temp agency and hire me permanently.
"How does Senior Secretary sound?" He said, with a grin. "It comes with a five thousand dollar raise."
"That sounds amazing!" I exclaimed, as I jumped up and gave him a hug.
When I left his office, I was on top of the world and couldn't believe how quickly my hard work had paid off. In a matter of months, I had a full-time job that paid forty thousand dollars a year and came with excellent benefits including one hundred percent tuition reimbursement. I couldn’t wait to tell mom the good news, so I called her at work.
"Mom!" I exclaimed. "You’ll never guess in a million years what happened!"
"You win the lotto child?"
"No, something better! Dr. Hall hired me full time and gave me a five thousand dollar raise!"
"I’m so proud of ya honey. God is good. I wish I could talk more, but gotta get back to them machines."
I could feel mom's smile through the phone as she hung up and went back to work. Mom was a machinist and made eleven dollars an hour standing on her feet operating machines for ten hours a day, four days a week. Standing for that many hours a day would be hard for anyone, but for mom it was especially hard because of her age and health issues. Now that I had a permanent job that paid well, my hope was that I could eventually take care of her, so she didn’t have to work so hard.
Shortly after hanging up with mom, Dr. Hall called me back to his office.
"I want you to start managing my incoming email," he said. "I get too much, and there's not enough hours in the day to respond."
The next day, we met with the Director of Information Technology, and Dr. Hall instructed her to provide me with access to his email account, so I could manage it in a clandestine way. And even though she expressed concerns about providing me with access, she gave it to me anyway, and I began managing Dr. Hall's incoming email that day. I felt so important! I was privy to confidential, executive-level information, making important decisions on Dr. Hall's behalf, and doing my best to ensure that no one suspected that it was me, and not Dr. Hall, who was in control of his email account.
Things were great in the beginning, but then rumors began to spread throughout the campus that it was little ole' me, and not Dr. Hall, who was creating the responses coming from his email account. The rumors spread like wildfire and caused such an uproar that within days, dignitaries from Daebrun's parent company
Corporate
were at our campus interviewing employees. And when it was my turn to be interviewed, I was terrified! I felt like I was standing in front of a firing squad, both figuratively and literally.
"How long have you been pretending to be Dr. Hall?" A man asked.
"What else were you doing for Dr. Hall?" Another man rudely asked.
"Did you knowingly violate our IT Security policy?" A woman asked.
The questions came from left and right, and although I responded honestly, their stoic demeanor made me feel like Dr. Hall's job wasn't the only one at risk.
The Corporate reps continued grilling me for about an hour, and I was sweating bullets the whole time. Then, I was finally released. And as I walked back to my cubicle, all eyes were on me and I felt ashamed, even though I didn't think I had done anything wrong.
After what seemed like an eternity, Corporate emailed an organizational announcement to all staff and faculty stating that Dr. Hall had resigned from his position as Chancellor for personal reasons. When I received the email in my inbox, I was crushed because Dr. Hall was the best boss I'd ever had. And as I drove home, I experienced a rainbow of emotions: I was sad Dr. Hall was gone, happy I still had my job, worried about reporting to a new boss, and hopeful my future with Daebrun would still be bright.
Two weeks later, Mia Kelly, Dr. Hall's replacement as the new Chancellor, arrived on campus, and my hopes for a bright future at Daebrun were instantly dashed.
