Jonamay Lambert & Associates

Childhood / Junior High Growing up, there was a narrative that I heard time and time again. It began with the damsel in distress story. Then it continued as my older cousins married opposite-sex partners. As I started adolescence, my mom constantly reminded me she expected me to go to college, find the right man, and have her grandchildren.  As a child, all of this made sense because of  heteronormativity . I was attracted to boys, yet a certain part of me wanted to object to these  notions placed upon me by my family and society . The idea of going to prom with or getting married to some man made me uncomfortable.  It wasn’t what I wanted, but it was what the world expected of me. I don’t remember the exact moment when I realized that I liked girls, but I believe I was born the way I am. I do remember having some feelings toward the opposite sex as early as 6th grade, but I repressed them. They were just girl crushes, I told myself, and everyone has...

The following article is adapted from Amy Waninger’s book,  Network Beyond Bias: Making Diversity a Competitive Advantage for Your Career . Is your professional network as diverse as the workforce and community around you? If not, you could be missing important opportunities for your career. We all face challenges in making meaningful connections, especially with people who differ from us in significant ways. Few of us consider the impacts of these missed opportunities. Even fewer know how to recognize and overcome them. Yet we must do so, urgently, if we are to  compete, collaborate and create   in the modern world. The old question for success was “What do you know?”  In the information age, though, we all have access to Google. Knowledge has become a commodity and is taken for granted. What you should be asking yourself instead is  “What you can  do  and  who  do you know?”  In our global, social media-driven, freelancing economy...