What No One Talks About: Burnout Among Racialized & Black Women in Corporate Roles
- Nada Johnson
- 4 days ago
- 4 min read
When Success Comes with an Invisible Weight
For many racialized and Black women working in corporate environments like finance, tech, HR, consulting, communications, and operations, success often looks like excellence, reliability, and ambition.
But behind the polished presentations, strategic projects, and leadership potential lies another story: one of chronic pressure, quiet fatigue, and the emotional strain of constantly needing to perform.
And according to the most recent research, burnout among corporate women is not only rising, but it is being intensified by systemic workplace patterns that disproportionately affect women of colour.
🧠 The Data: Corporate Women Are Burning Out
Here’s what research shows:
💼 Systemic barriers fuel burnout
For every 100 men promoted to manager, only 87 women and 73 women of colour advance (McKinsey & LeanIn, 2023).
This “broken rung” forces women to work harder for the same opportunities.
⚠ Microaggressions take a real toll
Women who experience them are 3× more likely to consider quitting and 4× more likely to be consistently burned out.
Black and Asian women are more frequently mistaken for junior staff, increasing stress.
📊 Leadership gaps increase pressure
Women hold 28% of C-suite roles.
Women of colour hold only 1 in 16 (McKinsey & LeanIn, 2023).
Limited representation fuels perfectionism, vigilance, and pressure to “prove” value.
✨ Ambition remains high
88% of women of colour want to advance, and young women show the strongest leadership aspirations.
When ambition meets under-recognition and systemic barriers, burnout intensifies.
What Burnout Looks Like for Racialized & Black Women in Corporate Roles
Burnout for racialized and Black women is rarely due to one single factor. It’s the compounding of many pressures:
💙 Being hyper-visible and invisible at the same time
Expected to be a representative for diversity, but still overlooked for stretch opportunities or strategic projects.
💙 Microaggressions that accumulate over time
Including being interrupted, mistaken for junior staff, or having ideas questioned (McKinsey & LeanIn, 2023).
💙 Overwork driven by the “prove yourself” mindset
Working twice as hard to be seen as equally competent.
💙 Self-shielding at work
78% of women who face microaggressions report adjusting their behaviour to avoid negative reactions (McKinsey & LeanIn, 2023). Black women are more than twice as likely to feel pressure to code-switch.
💙 Career stagnation despite effort
The broken rung makes early advancement slower, which can create chronic discouragement, fatigue, and questioning of one’s career path.
💙 The emotional pressure of wanting to succeed without burnout
Ambition and exhaustion coexist in the same body.
The Emotional Toll: What Women Say
In therapy, many high-achieving racialized and Black professional women share similar experiences:
🌿 “I’m always performing. I can’t afford to slip.”
🌿 “I’m exhausted, but I still feel like I’m not doing enough.”
🌿 “I love my work, but I feel drained all the time.”
🌿 “I’m the one everyone relies on… but where do I go for support?”
These are not personal failings.
They are predictable outcomes of corporate systems that overextend women and underestimate their emotional labour, competence, and resilience.
What Healing and Support Can Look Like
At NJCCS, healing does not mean stepping away from ambition. It means building sustainable wellbeing around your career, identity, and personal life.
Here’s what the therapeutic process often includes:
🌿 Naming and processing workplace stress without minimizing it
🌿 Understanding the emotional impact of microaggressions and bias
🌿 Releasing the conditioning of needing to “push through” everything
🌿 Building boundaries at work and at home
🌿 Reclaiming rest, not as a luxury, but as a necessity
🌿 Redefining success in a way that aligns with identity, wellness, and values
Burnout is not an individual weakness. It is a signal that something in the system and the support around you needs to shift.
NJCCS Is Here to Walk With You
If you’re a racialized or Black woman in a corporate role and you’re feeling the weight of pressure, exhaustion, or constant expectation, I want you to know this:
You deserve support.
You deserve rest.
You deserve to feel whole, not depleted.
At NJCCS, I support women navigating:
Workplace stress, burnout, and chronic overwork
Microaggressions and identity-based strain
Boundary-setting and emotional fatigue
Career transition, leadership pressure, and performance expectations
Balancing ambition with mental and emotional wellness
You do not have to carry this alone.
With warmth,
Nada Johnson, MSW, RSW
Registered Social Worker, Psychotherapist / trained Family Mediator / EMDR Trained Therapist / Certified Racial Trauma Clinician / Mental Health & Sexual Violence Consultant / Professional Speaker
🌍 Website: www.nadajohnsonservices.com
📩 Contact: info@nadajohnsonservices.com
Nada Johnson Consulting & Counselling Services – Online phone and video sessions available
Village Healing Centre: 240 Roncesvalles Avenue
Please share this post to support another racialized or Black woman in the corporate field who may be navigating these pressures alone. 🤝
References
McKinsey & Company & LeanIn.Org. (2023). Women in the Workplace 2023.
McKinsey & Company & LeanIn.Org. (2022). Women in the Workplace 2022.
American Psychological Association. (2015). Stress in America™ Survey: Paying With Our Health.
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