Coffee No Cream Ep. 66 - COO Reveals the Unwritten Rules for Black Women

What if doing great work isn’t enough? Beverly Dines became a C-suite executive by age 30, and after leaving corporate America, she built an online community of more than 500,000 people by sharing the career advice most of us never hear, including what is actually being said behind closed doors.

In this episode of Coffee No Cream, Beverly and I talk candidly about the unwritten rules of corporate America and what Black women need to understand about navigating them. We get into how race, complexion, presentation and proximity to whiteness can affect career advancement, why Beverly believes Black women should consider “unsexy” industries when making a career pivot, and why simply applying for more jobs may not be the answer.

Beverly also takes us inside the C-suite. She explains why being a “culture carrier” can sometimes protect an employee when performance alone doesn’t, why she says companies operate like clubs, and how internal relationships can affect who gets promoted, protected, or pushed out.

And we talk about the shift many Black women know all too well: going from pet to threat. Beverly shares what to pay attention to when you feel that change happening and why waiting for undeniable proof may mean waiting too long.

But this conversation isn’t only about learning how to play the corporate game. It’s also about building enough power to decide whether you want to play at all.

Beverly talks about creating “F-you money,” decentering work, investing in your own expertise, and the advice from her mother that changed how she thought about her career: “You’ve made a lot of white men very wealthy with your operational expertise. If you gave yourself 10% of what you gave them, imagine how successful you’d be.” This is a conversation about understanding the game, recognizing when the game has changed, and creating more options for yourself.

Connect with Beverly Dines YouTube Instagram TikTok Book: Create Your Door by Beverly Dines ☕ Join the Coffee No Cream Community We talk about career, confidence, workplace trauma, healing, and navigating life as Black women, without apology. ► ⁠⁠⁠⁠Join the private Facebook group ⁠⁠⁠⁠ ► ⁠⁠⁠⁠Access 2,000+ free educational resources ⁠⁠⁠⁠ ► ⁠⁠⁠⁠Book a Motion Hour with Erin⁠⁠⁠⁠ to figure out your next step ⏰ TIMESTAMPS (00:00) Coming Up (00:27) Welcome to Coffee No Cream (03:20) Meet Beverly Dines (03:32) How Beverly Built an Audience of 500,000+ (07:06) Becoming a C-Suite Executive at 30 (12:31) Learning the Corporate Game (19:00) Did Proximity to Whiteness Help Her Career? (22:51) The Unspoken Rules of Presentation (27:18) Black Women: Look at the “Unsexy” Industries (33:44) Stop “Spraying and Praying” for Jobs (36:09) Decisions Are Made on the Golf Course (38:33) How to Pivot Into a New Industry (46:09) Do You Really Need LinkedIn? (54:41) How to Find “Your People” (1:01:32) What Really Happens Behind Closed Doors (1:02:44) Why Being a “Culture Carrier” Matters (1:04:08) “Companies Are Clubs” (1:10:38) When Black Women Go From Pet to Threat (1:11:13) When You Notice It, It May Already Be Too Late (1:17:50) What If You Don’t Want to Play the Game? (1:18:15) Building “F-You Money” (1:20:44) Trust the Shift When You Feel It (1:26:12) “You’ve Made a Lot of White Men Wealthy” (1:27:50) Black Women, Presentation & Authenticity (1:40:33) Companies Are Clubs, But Where Do You Draw the Line? (1:45:31) Beverly’s Book, Create the Door (1:48:00) Closing