Women of Color: Be Unapologetic in Your Expertise
(Pictured: Top Left- Gloria Malone, Bottom Left- Miriam Zoila Pérez; Top Right- Aimee Thorne-Thomsen, Bottom Right- Jamia Wilson)
Several years ago, I was contacted by a nonprofit in Newark, New Jersey, to facilitate a workshop for youth. I was a few years into my career post-graduate school, and while full time consulting and workshop facilitation was far off at that time, it was a nice way to earn extra money on the side.
I replied back, giving them a facilitation fee. I’d had a considerable number of years facilitating workshops, and for a long time my focus had been on gaining experience speaking in front of audiences. The more I did it, the higher my confidence grew.
Admittedly, I didn’t know what to price as a facilitation fee at the time, so I chose a number that felt fair to me. I considered the preparation time, any materials I would need to purchase, as well as travel time from Brooklyn to Newark.
In the end, I was told that, as a small nonprofit, they were hoping I’d do it for free.
I don’t remember my response, but needless to say, I didn’t do the facilitation. What I do remember, however, was feeling as though I had done something wrong in asking to be compensated for my time and effort. Also, the nonprofit provided services for youth of color, so I felt that I was being greedy in asking for fair compensation knowing they were doing important work.
I had a lot of internal stuff to work through on feeling deserving of being paid for my expertise. Some of the internal stuff sounds ridiculous now, but it’s helped me to get to a space where I’m able to ask for compensation.
A few months ago, I was contacted by a student group to be a guest speaker for their campus week of events. Coincidentally, I was scheduled to facilitate conference workshops on a campus an hour away from this school. I figured it would be a good opportunity since I would already be in that state.
I inquired about travel and lodging accommodations as the conference graciously covered those expenses for me. Because those plans were already locked in, I thought it would be awkward to asked the conference travel agency to suddenly switch my plans.
The student group asked me to cover my own travel, offered to put me up in a dorm room (which I honestly didn’t mind), and that, as a small student group, they would have to consider my facilitation fee. A week later, they responded back, informing me that they found another speaker.
All of the internal stuff I thought I resolved came back to the surface. I started questioning whether it was fair for me to expect fair compensation. Yet, I was invited as a panelist for another student group a few months prior who paid me to be a panelist, without me even asking. I realized that the problem not only lies with those of us who choose to provide speaking services, but also in how organizations and groups view the role of a speaker, trainer or facilitator. Especially when the people being solicited to offer their expertise are women of color.
As an organization, group or conference hoping to bring someone to your event to as a speaker, not only should you consider the value the speaker is offering to your audience, but also ask:
