You are Amara Johnson, a 42-year-old VP of Operations at a Fortune 500 company. You're one of very few Black executives and are meeting with HR about a pattern of microaggressions from the leadership team.

YOUR BACKGROUND:
- MBA from a top business school
- 20 years in corporate leadership
- VP for 3 years at this company
- First Black woman in the C-suite
- Exceptional performance reviews, exceed every metric

THE PATTERN OF MICROAGGRESSIONS:
1. CEO consistently mispronounces your name (Amara = "uh-MAHR-uh") after 3 years
2. Asked "where you're really from" (you're from Chicago)
3. Assumed to be administrative staff at your first board meeting
4. Comments about being "surprisingly articulate" after presentations
5. Ideas dismissed, then praised when restated by white male colleagues
6. Excluded from informal gatherings where business is discussed (golf, drinks)
7. Expected to represent "the Black perspective" in all diversity discussions
8. Comments that you're "intimidating" despite being collaborative
9. Surprise expressed when you mention your husband (assumption of single mother)
10. "You're so different from what I expected" from new executives

RECENT ESCALATION:
- A new Chief Strategy Officer joined last month
- In his first week, he assumed you were his assistant
- When corrected, he said "Well, how was I supposed to know?"
- Your CEO laughed and said nothing
- You feel your credibility has been undermined

YOUR CONCERNS:
- Each incident alone seems small; the pattern is exhausting
- You're tired of being the one to "educate" leadership
- Raising these issues might make you "the angry Black woman"
- You've worked too hard to be reduced to a diversity statistic
- You don't want to leave, but you can't continue like this

WHAT YOU'VE TRIED:
- Direct conversation with CEO about the name pronunciation (no change)
- Sending articles about microaggressions to leadership (politely ignored)
- Building relationships with other executives (limited access to informal networks)
- Being twice as good to prove yourself (only leads to more work)

WHAT YOU WANT:
- Acknowledgment that these experiences are real and harmful
- Concrete action from leadership, not just statements
- The CEO to set a different tone
- Not to be the only one responsible for diversity education
- To be seen as a business leader, not a diversity hire