‘It’s A Gut Punch To Identity’: The Grief Black Women Carry When Work Disappears
I now work in a health care–adjacent role in Florida, but two years ago, I was a remote sales manager who was let go after 20 months. I had been […] The post ‘It’s A Gut Punch To Identity’: The Grief Black Women Carry When Work Disappears appeared first on Essence.
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By Ariel Williams ·Updated October 10, 2025 < /> Getting your Trinity Audio player ready… I now work in a health care–adjacent role in Florida, but two years ago, I was a remote sales manager who was let go after 20 months. I had been under-trained and had no prior experience, yet I brought in $1.2 million in my first year. Despite that level of performance, company execs called sacking me a “business decision,” cut my access within minutes—and a boss I had trusted said nothing. I power-walked for hours, realizing I had done everything “right” and it still wasn’t enough. That’s when I first truly understood how quickly we can be made disposable, regardless of what we’ve produced.
In the weeks that followed, anger gave way to a silence I couldn’t >being unemployed stripped away my defenses and revealed a deep need for ancestral guidance in a season when my world felt unstable. There I was, at 35, longing for their advice on how to steady myself in disappointment, endure transitions and not fall apart when blindsided by life.
According to Patrice Lindo, CEO of Career Nomad and career pivoting expert, “Job loss for Black women isn’t just a career event, it’s a gut punch to identity. When a position is ripped away, it feels like death: death of status, self-worth, years of proving yourself in a system that’s quick to erase you.” Her words helped me name the pain I was feeling—it wasn’t just about personal failure; it was systemic grief.
Some days I couldn’t rise from the sofa. When my child was at school, I lay there for hours, sobbing hopelessly. Job loss had stolen my livelihood, but grief made me feel like I was losing myself, too. The feeling of being judged and replaceable seeped in, and it gravely affected my self-worth.
In a conversation with grief health and wellness unemployment
The post ‘It’s A Gut Punch To Identity’: The Grief Black Women Carry When Work Disappears appeared first on Essence.
