March 7, 2025
Black Women Executives Talk Women-on-Women Bias in the Workplace
A panel of experts shared personal experiences and advice about navigating difficult relationships with other women coworkers at the BLACK ENTERPRISE Women of Power Summit.
Three Black women executives opened up about the challenges they’ve faced with difficult women in the workplace throughout their careers at the BLACK ENTERPRISE Women of Power Summit on Thursday.
Held in Las Vegas, the 19th annual professional development conference aims to enrich women of color with the tools, connections, and resources they need to ascend the corporate ladder.
The two-day event featured panels, one-on-one career and financial coaching, and exclusive networking opportunities. Panel topics included diversity, equity, and inclusion (DEI), leadership skills, building workplace relationships, professional branding, artificial intelligence, gender bias, and the pay gap.
During a session titled “Confronting Women-on-Women Bias,” a panel of experts shared personal stories and anecdotal examples about navigating toxic work relationships with women. According to CBS News, research shows that women can internalize bias and express it against other women in their workplace. Some believe that there is room for just a few women in leadership positions and, therefore, step on other women as they climb the ranks at their organization.
“I’ve worked for three “queen Bs” in my career. Those experiences really made me who I am today,” said Olivia Linson, director of platform operation and support at AFLAC, during the panel.
“I knew I couldn’t change her, but I could change me,” she continued, referring to a difficult woman boss.
Celeste Warren, the Vice President of Global Diversity & Inclusion Center of Excellence at Merck, advised attendees to “maintain professionalism” when engaging with difficult coworkers and to keep a record of events in case a negative relationship with a colleague escalates.
“Document when it happens [and] what time it happened because at some point if they don’t change their behavior, it’s going to come to blows,” she said.
“The best revenge is excellence,” added Heather R Younger, J.D., founder and CEO of Employee Fanatix, a preeminent employee engagement and workplace culture consulting firm for Fortune 100 companies.
She continued, “Nobody is coming to save you. You have to save yourself.”