1 Kiesha Garrison: Staying True to Yourself

Published Names: Alejandra, Anonymous, Kylie, Ella and Natalie

Background –

Kiesha Garrison was born and raised in Louisiana as the middle child of five siblings. After an interview with her, we found out she graduated high school as valedictorian. Then she went to Spelman College in Atlanta, Georgia to study economics. Her hardworking prowess continued as she placed second in her economics major upon graduation. Straight out of college, she landed a job at Time Incorporated and moved to New York City, where she stayed for 11 years. After that, she was recruited by Microsoft, where she had to move across the country to Redmond, WA. She stayed at Microsoft for 8 years. After Microsoft, her path led her to a couple of different companies, Vertro, which operated a third-party internet tool called ALOT, and Vitals, an online platform providing tools to find healthcare providers which she worked at for 2 years. During all these years she had many creative side projects, including being a special events hairstylist, personal chef, ACT English Instructor, and a stand-up comedian. She currently works for Gem Drop Media as a Master of Ceremonies, or host, along with leading her own company: Hey, Black Seattle.

Gaining Career Experience –

While working at Time Incorporated, she published for consumer marketing companies like People’s Magazine, Sports Illustrated for Kids, and InStyle. As she navigated this workspace, she learned the importance of networking, going as far as creating a spreadsheet of who she wanted to network with and tracking her interactions with them. This strategy helped her break through communication barriers in her early career. After she switched gears to Microsoft her hard work led her to becoming Chief of Staff for Computing and Artificial Intelligence Development. During the interview, she stated the past decade has “been a big, big era of change in my life. This is where I got divorced. Found my purpose, left corporate America, and started my own company” (Garrison). In June 2023, she decided to walk a path of her own. She founded her own company, Hey, Black Seattle! to uplift voices, organizations, and businesses in Seattle’s Black community. By creating a platform where the Black community can connect, promote, and share resources, she aims to nurture an environment where they can ultimately feel happy and supported in Seattle.

“…somebody told me hard work isn’t enough. Like, if you just put your head down and you do great work – and like, my team was winning awards – it’s never going to matter for your career if nobody knows your name attached to the stuff […] If you don’t advocate for yourself, then you will look really small in the thing that you contributed to” (Garrison).

Finding Mentors With Aligned Values –

During her time at these companies, Kiesha found that networking and mentorships were key to both advancing her career and stabilizing her life. Some of these mentors helped advance her brand while others had values that did not align with her own. At Time Inc. she met Charles Sims. She stated, “He was someone that I met when I first got to Time Inc. and he was older…but somehow there was a kinship for us there” (Garrison). Charles’ wisdom gave Kiesha a unique perspective. As life got difficult he would suggest books to Kiesha to help her understanding of both life and her career. She eventually ended up splitting ways with Charles due to wanting a more creative career path. Whilst working at Microsoft, she met Rhonda, a woman from another department of whom she admired. She would purposefully take tasks in Rhonda’s department to build a connection with her. Rhonda had more experience and was happy to learn about the latest news from a fresh perspective. Keisha met mentors that aligned themselves with her views and values. However, she also had an experience with someone who’s company values did not align with her own. “I did have someone I really respected and admired as a mentor at Microsoft, who kind of was sending me in a career direction where a lot of the creative part of my life needed to be smaller for it to work” (Garrison). She decided following a mentor that did not prioritize her values and views would be detrimental to her career and what she wanted to pursue. Mentorship is only successful when mutual respect for each person exists.

“Am I leaving a part of me behind to walk through this door? If I feel like I’m gonna walk through this really cool door. But there’s a whole chunk of me that I have to leave on the porch before I go in, I would say, Don’t go in there” (Garrison).

Work-Life Harmony –

Throughout her career so far Kiesha has learned to master her own work-life balance, or as she likes to refer to it, “work-life harmony”. She stressed that, “You are your own primary caregiver, only you know all the stuff that’s on your plate, only you know all the experiences that you’ve had in the past that now make it more difficult to do this, or less difficult” (Garrison). Although she had guidance from others to help her reach this point. A previous co-worker of hers, Lousia, pointed out “All the stuff in your life is these like glass balls, and you’re trying to juggle them. You’re trying to juggle them. And sometimes it’s just too hard. It is okay to take one sometimes. And instead of going going until you drop it, just like make the choice to sit it down” (Garrison). She has found the value in setting down different aspects of her life at various points to avoid letting more fall out of her control, affecting many more aspects of her life than intended. By taking breaks and setting down the “work ball” in life, it has allowed her to explore different creative outlets and develop a range of hobbies: “I am a stand-up comedian, a poet. I love collecting crystals and stuff. Love a good disco ball. I have been a personal chef and a hairstylist in another life. I am generally a person who loves to experience creation” (Garrison).

Self-Promoting for Black Women –

In a primarily white-male work environment like Microsoft, Kiesha found it difficult to find her place. Despite working hard and performing well it was hard for Kiesha to feel recognized and appreciated. During a work meeting she called out another coworker for making fun of the icebreaker they were given as a team, she states, “And so, the more obviously visible you are. you do feel that hyper-visibility, but also invisibility. For some reason, because, like the things that you’re saying, don’t always get taken seriously” (Garrison). Being a woman, especially a woman of color means getting ignored. For this reason, self-promotion becomes infinitely more important to them. The following describes the additional barriers women face in the workplace.

By focusing on how tensions of belonging and uniqueness create conditions of visibility for Black women, we demonstrate the shortcomings of existing initiatives aimed at developing new leaders. Such career development programs often focus on a single axis of identity at a time and push employees to adopt self-promotion strategies, which may undermine the role of intersectionality, power, and backlash in shaping systemic barriers to women’s advancement and well-being. (McCluney & Rabelo, 2019)

Women of color face additional barriers when self-promoting. Often this means letting go of parts of your identity to push forward the other aspects in order to appeal to a wider audience. Kiesha asks the question, “What feminine part of myself did I destroy to make it in this world?” (Garrison). This question is a good way for one to deeper examine the way that things like work, relationships, school and more can affect oneself. Especially for women, femininity can be harmful to their career. Kiesha advises that the best places to work at and advocate for yourself are places that you can feel comfortable being yourself in.

“If the space doesn’t accept me as a Black woman, I have to change the space, not myself.” (Garrison)

Hey, Black Seattle! –

As the Founder & CEO of Hey, Black Seattle!, Kiesha Garrison dedicated a platform to helping the African diaspora in Seattle discover Black cultural experiences and community resources. With over 20 years of experience in technology, publishing, and communications, she aims to provide insights and resources that enable people to thrive. Despite the challenges of a small and dispersed Black population in Seattle, the platform fosters connection and support through targeted media, events like Black Seattle Orientation, free STEM programs, and merchandise, celebrating the vibrant Black community in Seattle, WA. Powered by a comprehensive database and collective knowledge from local organizations and individuals, Hey, Black Seattle! serves as a central hub for finding resources, events, and spaces that uplift Black lives. As a Spelman alum, Kiesha and her daughter, Lauryn Garrison, who serves as a Creative Advisor and Retail Merchandising Assistant, aim to foster a sense of well-being and hope in the community they have called home for the past decade. By remembering Kiesha Garrison’s lessons of staying true to ourselves we can come together and create a bigger community just like she has with Hey, Black Seattle!

Works Cited

Garrison, Kiesha. Personal interview. 10 May 2024.

McCluney, Courtney L., and Verónica Caridad Rabelo. “Conditions of Visibility: An Intersectional Examination of Black Women’s Belongingness and Distinctiveness at Work.” ScienceDirect, Journal of Vocational Behavior, Aug. 2019, doi.org/10.1016/j.jvb.2018.09.008.