According to the currently trending hashtag on Twitter, today is National Boss Day.
If you browse through the tweets in that hashtag, there are plenty of memes of gifs with people cracking jokes at the expense of those they report to on a daily basis. It’s not easy having a boss that you don’t necessarily care for. Believe me, I know.
For years, I worked with people in upper management that I wished would leave for lunch and just never return. It would have made my life so much easier because at work they were making my life miserable.
That all changed two years ago when I got the offer to start freelancing on a regular basis for The Root. Nine months after I started freelancing for them, I was asked to come on as a full-time staff member. It has been the greatest experience of my life. I am quite literally living my dream every single day of my life, and I am so appreciative.
I am so blessed to work with a team as amazing as the people I interact with in Slack on a daily basis. Everyone is hilarious. We laugh, joke, argue, debate, fuss and fight just like the family that we are—and at the end of the day, we’ve all we got—so we stick together. You will witness this if you ever start something with one of our staff members. The rowdier members of our team will swoop down upon you like the blackest Voltron you have ever seen, so don’t do it to yourself.
I truly believe that part of what makes us so great is our leadership team. The Root is led by all women—black women at that—and it is a beautiful thing.
Danielle Belton, our editor-in-chief, is the sweetest person you will ever meet in your life. She is always welcoming if you need to talk to her about work things, and we have had some very candid conversations around topics such as mental health. She gets it and she gets me, and I love her for it. She makes logging on to work every single day very easy to do.
I can say the same about Genetta Adams, The Root’s managing editor, to whom I report directly. I love Genetta because she keeps it all the way real with me, even when she knows it’s probably going to sting. She tells me when I am doing too much and calls me out when I’m not doing enough. She has a lot of experience in this field, and she shares it freely. Plus, she’s genuinely funny, and even though she’s from the country part of California, she’s still my homegirl, and I love her dearly.
While I don’t technically report to Maiysha Kai in any way, I want to shout her out because as managing editor of The Glow Up, she is a dynamo. She also sends me every link about Cardi B that she finds (the entire staff recognizes and respects my obsession with King Cardi) and she is always willing to help everyone else out, even when her own plate is overflowing. That’s a boss.
We are a privileged bunch at The Root. We are given a lot of autonomy in our story choices, we aren’t micromanaged, and we don’t have an “office” full of drama. I attribute all of that to black women being in charge.
On this day, National Boss Day, I want to thank the bosses in my life for being the brilliant leaders that they are. They make my job that much easier.