Advocated for the jr to be on my team, positioned/positioning her to be able to do great work, was transparent about salary ranges at her level, & got her a 25k raise.

As a black woman looking out for another one, I want her to be aware. I don’t want her to be unknowingly underpaid or to accept doing a lot of work for cheap. I know how it can affect our career trajectories.

Was there a design challenge before she was brought on to my team? Yes bc it was required of me. However, I realize it’s a pandemic & challenges are stressful. I focused on how she thinks & understands the process. Not aesthetics &refused to make her do 3-4 prototypes concepts.

It took an hour to go over it & all I had to do was give her the space to let her showcase strengths & potential then give her a chance. Like I was given when I first got started. Hiring jrs is not as hard or needs to be as gatekeepish as I experienced and have seen.