In this episode of Driving Impact, host Katheline Jean‑Pierre interviews Lexi B., Microsoft’s AI Safety & Security PM and founder of Sista Circle, to uncover three unconventional career strategies for Black women in technology. Lexi emphasizes that "money cannot be funny," urging listeners to build a financially resilient life independent of their job. She then advises mapping one’s career to the life they truly want, rather than letting a job dictate personal aspirations. Finally, Lexi stresses the importance of cultivating safe spaces and mentorship networks both inside and outside the workplace, highlighting how authentic feedback, executive presence, and culturally resonant guidance can help navigate workplace politics and amplify impact. Throughout, Lexi shares personal anecdotes from her time at Airbnb, illustrating how honest feedback and community support shaped her professional growth.
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Welcome to Driving Impact.
My money cannot be funny because I live in— I work in an industry where they can cut you at any time.
Yeah.
2, I need to start mapping my career to the life that I want, not build a career for a life that I may, may or may not want. And so I walked into Airbnb with these very radical new perspectives on what my career should look like, the decisions that I should make in my career. And it has taken me here. And I'm very glad I had that conversation with that person. Yeah.
That's amazing. That's good career advice. And if you had like, let's say, 2 more tips, 2 more career tips. So first is your money cannot be funny. So make sure that you build a financially savvy life based on your life and not on your career. And then what would be the 2 other career advices?
You need to go find people that can teach you stuff. I think that— and I always tell people this, I'm like, I don't think capitalism is very difficult. I don't think labor is hard. Labor can be annoying, but I don't think labor is inherently difficult because a lot of this stuff, all of it, you can be taught. What is difficult is social politics in the workplace. You need to find safe spaces at work that will tell you the truth about yourself.
Oh, outside of work, right?
Oh yeah, outside of work too.
Yeah, but I was very blessed about to launch a master class to do that.
Yes, but like, you really need to find your community. You really need to find the people that you can go to and be 100% unfiltered, and then they can say, okay, so now I'm going to tell you why you're wrong. I'm going to tell you why you're right. And if you would like, I can give you some advice on how to move forward. And I've been very blessed, for whatever reason, finding people in and outside of work. I think it's easier to find them outside of work, but finding people inside the companies that I worked with that felt comfortable pulling me aside and being like, so you want to talk about what just happened?
Who, who are those people? Like coworkers or like a boss?
They were coworkers. They were a lot of, a lot of them at Airbnb because when I went to Airbnb, it was a very small company. It was like 2,000 people when I joined.
Wow.
So early days, early days. A lot of them were actually like executives at Airbnb that I would happen to be in rooms with. And for whatever reason, they were like, can I give you some feedback? And I'm like, sure. And they would give it to me. And I, I love feedback, and so I would listen. I would— sometimes I would challenge it, sometimes I would listen. There was this one guy at Airbnb, a white man, and he actually gave me feedback one day where he said, how you're showing up to this meeting is not going to work. And I got very quiet and I said, what do you mean? And he's like, you show up and you're very timid. And he said, and I think that you're timid because you're in a room of like, you know, high-ranking people at this company. And he said, but you can't be timid around them or they're gonna push you around. And he said, and if they push you around, then you will end up getting in trouble because your job is to tell us what to do.
Yeah.
And I remember I looked at him and I said, great. I said, but see, you cuss people out. I can't do that because I don't look like you. And he actually laughed and he said, respectfully, Lexi, you're gonna need to go find some people that can tell you how to do this with the skin that you're in. Because right now what you are doing in this room is not going to bode well for you.
That's amazing because it's executive presence.
Exactly. And I said, well, do you have any Black women that I can talk to? And he said, I'm glad you asked, I will send some emails. And to have that radical conversation with this person, for him to see me in a way where he was like, I'm going to tell you that you need to update behavior, I'm going to honor that you can't do it like me or you don't feel comfortable doing it like me, I'm going to take a step further, and I'm going to introduce you to some people that could maybe give you some advice that you would likely more listen to. And so having those people in your life is very important for your career building because you're not perfect. And so you need the feedback, but you also need people that will allow you to challenge their feedback because they just want to see you shine. They just want to see you be your best life and making sure that how we teach you to twerk the way that you can authentically twerk and still get what you need done. Yeah.
It's really finding yourself, but also like being your higher self at work.
Oh yeah.
Being this elevated self. Like we see a lot of individual contributors or even managers when they come to a meeting, they could be the most junior person in the room, but they know their stuff. They, they find the right balance of humor and they're able to challenge the executives the right way. Yes. And that's when you find that magical, like, equation for yourself, then that's when you become very powerful.
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