The Invisible Black Woman

Promotions have been marketed to us as the ultimate proof of growth. A new title. A bigger desk. Maybe a little extra money in 

the paycheck. On the surface, it looks like success. It looks like progress.

But not every promotion equals progress.

In toxic workplaces, promotions can be traps dressed up as opportunities. You get a new title but no new respect. You get more responsibility but no protection. You get visibility but no support. What is sold as advancement often ends up being a setup.

Toxic cultures are good at using promotions as leverage. They know how to make you believe you are rising when all they have done is added to your load. They call it recognition, but it is really redistribution. They shift more weight onto your shoulders and clap while you carry it.

That is not growth. That is exploitation wrapped in applause.

Progress should never cost you your peace. It should not demand your boundaries as payment. It should not strip you of your dignity in exchange for a new business card. If your “promotion” leaves you more exhausted than empowered, that is not progress. That is captivity with a corner office view.

And here is the real math: a ladder leaning on the wrong wall does not get you where you need to be. The higher you climb, the further away you get from yourself. Not every promotion equals progress. Sometimes it equals burnout. Sometimes it equals silence. Sometimes it equals the system keeping you too busy to notice you are still stuck in the same toxic soil.

Progress is not about climbing every ladder in sight. It is about knowing whether the ladder is worth climbing at all. True advancement adds to you rather than drains you. It strengthens your voice rather than silences it. It moves you closer to yourself, not further away.

So the next time a workplace offers you a promotion, ask the real question: does this equation balance? Does this move truly honor my value, or is it just another way to use it? Because not every promotion equals progress. And if the math is off, it is better to step off the ladder than lose yourself on the climb.

Until next time, I wish you nothing but sunshine, rainbows, and unicorns, which are no less fictitious than the magnificent creature you are.