(7/7) Why Do I Feel Like an Impostor? You Represent Your Entire Social Group

According to Dr. Valerie Young’s book The Secret Thoughts of Successful Women, there are seven “good reasons” to feel like an impostor. I invite you to see how many of these resonate with you. 

  1. Messages from Childhood

  2. You are a Student or Learner

  3. You Work Alone

  4. You Work in a Creative Field

  5. Your Work Culture Feeds It

  6. You are a Stranger in a Strange Land

7) You Represent Your Entire Social Group

Whenever you represent your entire social group, two factors touch upon the impostor nerve. 

  • Pressure goes up. The pressure to perform so you can continue paving the way for others in your social group increases. The weight of responsibility, history, and the future converge and looms large.

  • Confidence goes down. Doubts swirl regarding belonging, questioning if you are smart enough or if you were hired because of the color of your skin instead of your skills and abilities. This is why women who attend single-sex schools and Black folks who attend HBCUs thrive compared to their counterparts.

  • It's not you. If you are the only one in the room who is not part of the dominant culture, recognize that and know this underrepresentation may impact you far more than you think. If feelings of doubt sneak in, err on the side of trusting yourself.

“Don’t confuse the discomfort caused by feeling outnumbered with the idea that you’re not smart enough or in some way not worthy of being there. You are where you are because you deserve to be.” -Dr. Valerie Young

What to Do:

  • Connect with others. Talking to others who feel underrepresented in their environments is incredibly important. This is why workplace and college campus affiliate groups are so popular and necessary.

  • Hire more inclusively. If the vast majority of your staff are white or male, ask yourself why that is. If you are in a position to hire folks, challenge your own assumptions about what you are looking for. Unconscious bias has more influence over your decision-making when it goes unacknowledged.

  • Get out of your comfort zone. If you are a part of the dominant culture (male, white, able-bodied, cishet) who wants to be a part of the solution and not unintentionally add to the problem, work to understand experiences different from your own. Read books like Austin Channing Brown's I'm Still Here or Ijeoma Oluo's So You Want to Talk about Race.

Those who are a part of the dominant culture will never understand exactly how it feels to be the only one representing their entire social group. Yet, that doesn't mean you can't work towards understanding, connecting, and owning your role and responsibility within our society. As a result, it becomes crucial to listen to experiences different from your own and believe them. 

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(6/7) Why Do I Feel Like an Impostor? You Feel Like an Outsider