Abstract
Purpose. The purpose of this qualitative narrative inquiry was to identify the impact of race and other barriers and motivators experienced both personally and professionally on the career paths of African American women who have succeeded in acquiring executive level leadership roles in nonprofit organizations.Theoretical Framework. The theoretical framework that guided this qualitative narrative inquiry was Critical Race Theory. As a research paradigm, Critical Race Theory recognizes the reality and pervasiveness of racism at various levels in society. In this study, Critical Race Theory functioned as a lens through which to analyze the underrepresentation of African American women in executive leadership positions in the non-profit sector.Methodology. A narrative inquiry approach was used to explore the following research question: What impact did race and other barriers have on the career paths of African American women on their journeys to executive leadership roles in nonprofit organizations and what were the motivators? Data was collected through homogeneous, snowball, and convenience sampling by interviewing four African American women who were operating in the executive leadership roles in nonprofit organizations.Findings and Conclusion. Through the analysis of this data, four themes emerged. The themes were (a) racism, (b) sexism, (c) community of family and friends, (d) passion to serve. Two themes were barriers and two themes were motivators. The two factors that participants identified as barriers were racism and sexism. These factors were identified as challenges experienced on the career paths of the participants. The support of community made up of family and friends, and passion to serve were the two greatest motivators experienced by the participants on their journeys to executive leadership roles. These two motivators strengthened the participants desire to continue their work.Recommendations. Nonprofit organizations should implement mentorship and future leaders programs to support opportunities for African American women to avert discrimination, exclusionary networks and to enhance programs that support advancement to executive leadership roles. Governmental policies both state and federal should implement regulatory policies for people of color to improve their chances for advancement in the U.S. workforce where other such policies have fallen short. Recommendations include more qualitative and quantitative studies on African American women to provide more insight to further understand the unique barriers encountered by African American women in the U.S. workforce.