Turning a microaggression into an industry-wide conversation about Black hair at work

The moment

Ayana Anderson, SVP of diversity, inclusion, and belonging at Highwire PR, was part of a sister circle of Black women at the firm — not yet an official ERG. One of the interns kept getting the same comment from a client every week: a remark about her hair. One week it was braids, the next a wig, the next cornrows.

She told the group she appreciated the attention but didn't want to be the subject of it.

What the ERG did with it

Instead of letting the moment pass, the sister circle built programming around it for Juneteenth — they called it "The Emancipation Proclamation for Black Women and Our Hair in the Workplace." The program covered:

• The history of how Black women have navigated hair expression at work.
• The Crown Act and what it protects.
• A space to share lived experiences and resources.

A painful one-on-one moment became a programmed conversation the whole firm — and parts of the broader PR industry — engaged with.

The ripple effects

• More Black women across the firm asked to join the group, accelerating its move from sister circle to a more formal ERG.
• Departing employees started citing the community in their farewell notes, which caught executive attention.
• Executives began joining ERGs themselves. Some said it was the first time they felt they could stop code-switching at work.
• The ERG started doing "out of the box" programming — at one point inviting a Black PR exec who also worked at a dating app to talk about trends in Black love.

Reading the room

Ayana is also clear that not every session has to be heavy. In a recent affinity group call, members said they were tapped out from the news cycle and just wanted to talk about new album drops. She let the conversation be light.

"Knowing that you have your peeps — so that when it goes down externally, you have your network and that sense of comfort — that's really important."

Takeaways for other ERG leaders

• Listen for the moments members flag. A single story from one member is often a signal of something larger.
• Turn it into programming, not just a Slack thread. A named event with a date gives the conversation reach.
• Mix heavy and light. Some weeks members need depth; some weeks they just need community.
• Executives notice culture signals. When members tell exit stories about belonging, leadership pays attention.