Black women say goodbye to the job and hello to their own businesses
Known as “The Cookie Lady” around Washington DC, Lacey Fisher is famous for her British- and German-inspired alcohol-infused confectionaries. Fisher launched Cookie Lane during the economic crisis of 2008, after being laid off from four different jobs as a mortgage auditor.
“I ran through my six months of savings and rent was due,” Fisher says.
Eventually Fisher returned to her full-time job but continued to work on her fledgling cookie empire “part-time”, baking her popular pecan and chocolate boozy Southern Gentleman, New York Oatmeal and Big Daddy Chocolate Chip. She decided to solely focus on Cookie Lane after a work commute turned into a five-hour nightmare while her three-month-old baby was at home. And in November 2020, the cookie lady quit her day job.
Fisher is just one of many Black women who left the workforce during the Covid-19 pandemic. In May 2020, Working Mother Research Institute reported that 52% of Black women were debating leaving their companies in two years.
One major issue is pay. A 2021 LeanIn.org survey found that on average Black women are paid 37% less than white men and 50% of Black women and Latinas had trouble paying for basic expenses with less than $300 in savings, and that’s with a job. In the same survey women of color described the pandemic as devastating to their finances. Compared with white men, Black women are almost twice as likely to say they have been laid off, furloughed, or had their hours or pay cut because of the pandemic. Nicki Tucker, social media director and contributing writer to the State of Black Women in Corporate America report at LeanIn.org, says the financial hurdles combined with hostile work environments are the catalyst for Black women to leave corporate America and
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