We Break Ceilings, Not Systems

Black Women, Leadership, and the Burden of Repair

Last night’s Democratic sweep was historic. Across the country voters made it abundantly clear that the current regime is not working.

This year in Oakland, CA and Albany, NY, voters elected Black women mayors for the first time ever. These wins are powerful—but they also reveal a troubling pattern: Black women are trusted to lead only when everything is broken.

Barbara Lee, elected in a special election in May, after Oakland’s previous mayor was ousted for corruption, stepped into a fractured city. “I answered the call to run to unite our community… so we can all work together as One Oakland to solve our most pressing problems,” she said. Her words echo the labor of repair—a labor Black women know intimately.

In Albany, Dorcey Applyrs won with 83% of the vote, becoming the city’s first Black woman mayor. “They made room for me to lead and chip away at that cement ceiling,” she said. But the room was made in crisis, not in celebration.

This is the double-edged sword of progress. Labor Pains, my platform for storytelling and advocacy, centers the emotional, political, and spiritual labor of Black women—especially in moments of rupture. These mayoral wins are ruptures. They are also reminders.

Despite our rising visibility, the pressure to perform perfectly remains suffocating. According to the Higher Heights Leadership Fund, Black women made historic gains in 2024, including Kamala Harris’s run at the top of a major-party presidential ticket. But representation hasn’t translated into sustained support. Harris has been candid: in her memoir 107 Days, she criticizes Democratic leaders for failing her during the campaign and presidency. Michelle Obama, too, has grown more vocal—skipping the 2025 inauguration and urging Americans to “stay stubbornly optimistic” while refusing to sugarcoat the stakes.

In the corporate sector, more than 300,000 Black women left the workforce in early 2025, citing burnout, lack of opportunity, and systemic erasure. In nonprofits, Black women leaders report being elevated without resources, asked to fix broken institutions without support.

We are called to lead—but rarely to thrive.

So yes, we are breaking glass ceilings. But we are also sweeping up shards. We are asked to fix what we did not break. We are summoned in crisis, not courted in prosperity. And when we warn—like Harris and Obama did—we are ignored until the collapse.

This is why Labor Pains exists. To name the labor. To honor it. To demand more than symbolic wins.

Because Black women are not just capable of leading through crisis. We are capable of building futures. And we deserve to do so without carrying the weight of everyone’s failure.

References (7)

1. Black Women in American Politics 2025 -Higher Heights Leadership Fund. https://higherheightsleadershipfund.org/report/black-women-in-american-politics-2025/
2. New Report Highlights a Decade of Gains and Persistent Gaps for Black …. https://cawp.rutgers.edu/news-media/press-releases/new-report-highlights-decade-gains-and-persistent-gaps-black-women-us
3. From Biden to Buttigieg: All the Democrats Kamala Harris … – POLITICO. https://www.politico.com/news/2025/09/19/kamala-harris-memoir-democrats-criticize-00573476
4. Michelle Obama Models The Power Of Saying ‘No’ With … – Forbes. https://www.forbes.com/sites/sophianelson/2025/01/21/michelle-obama-models-the-power-of-saying-no-with-inauguration-skip/
5. Michelle Obama understands the stakes in November. And she’s done …. https://www.msnbc.com/opinion/msnbc-opinion/michelle-obama-dnc-speech-democratic-convention-rcna167484
6. WOCRA on the 2025 Workforce Shift: Black Women Are Leaving Corporate …. https://www.wbcollaborative.org/insights/wocra-on-the-2025-workforce-shift-black-women-are-leaving-corporate-jobs-and-redefining-leadership/
7. Possibility to Power: How Black Women Leaders Are … – Nonprofit Quarterly. https://nonprofitquarterly.org/possibility-to-power-how-black-women-leaders-are-building-new-futures/