Thrive in Color : How to Master Self-advocacy and Command Your Career As an Underrepresented Professional

Distinguished Favorite, 2024 New York Big Book Awards
Winner: Career, 2025 National Indie Excellence Awards

According to research, 60 percent of your overall career success hinges on your ability to self-advocate.

However, as a professional of color, communicating your value and contributions, stepping up for opportunities, and commanding the salary you deserve may feel like your biggest challenge, too.

Author Devika Brij is here to show you that it doesn’t have to be this way. As the CEO of Brij the Gap and consultant to multiple Fortune 50 companies, Brij’s proven tools and strategies have helped thousands of underrepresented professionals create the exact careers, salaries, and work/life balance they desire, despite the institutional and systemic barriers arrayed against them.

Thrive in Color goes beyond motivation to address the specific action steps needed to proactively design and manage your career trajectory and bridge the gap between where you are and where you want to be. In this comprehensive playbook for professional empowerment, you’ll learn:

How to create a personal brand regardless of your current role or level of seniority
•Why you need to own your narrative for career advancement (instead of letting others create it by default)
•How to create a powerful elevator pitch and executive summary that will clearly convey the value you drive at work
•How to strategically manage your relationships with your leaders to reach your career goals
•Master your mind to alleviate imposture's syndrome
•How to effectively cultivate your network of advocates, including sponsors and mentors
•How to navigate unsafe spaces with managers and colleagues
•The keys to mastering negotiation
•How to exit gracefully when your current role or company no longer fits

In the end, our success isn’t only for us. It’s for every person who looks like us who is coming up behind us. By taking responsibility for our career trajectory, we make it easier for others to thrive as well.

Table of Contents

Introduction
Chapter One / Stop Playing It Safe
Chapter Two / Performing Under the Microscope
Chapter Three / The Self-Advocacy Dilemma
Chapter Four / Own Your Narrative
Chapter Five / Mindset: The Guardrail for Your Bridge
Chapter Six / Your Elevator Pitch
Chapter Seven / Your Executive Summary
Chapter Eight / Cultivating Your Network of Advocates
Chapter Nine / Managing Your Manager
Chapter Ten / Conquering Your Performance Evaluation
Chapter Eleven / Mastering Negotiation
Chapter Twelve / Your Exit Strategy
Chapter Thirteen / Thrive In Color
Afterword
Resources
Acknowledgments
About the Author 
About the Publisher

Devika Brij, CEO and Founder of Brij the Gap Consulting and cofounder of Zaka Connect, is a champion and community builder for underrepresented individuals. She partners with Fortune 500 companies like Visa, Meta, Morgan Stanley, Glassdoor and more to increase retention of top talent and teach their underrepresented employees and leaders how to thrive in their careers. Devika is also the Cofounder of Zaka, a professional development platform for first- and second-generation immigrants to receive career advancement education, coaching and community. Learn more at www.DevikaBrij.com.