Kimberly S. Reed is the founder and CEO of Reed Development Group. Her company provides innovative, custom solutions in the areas of diversity and inclusion strategy, leadership, and business and personal development for corporations, institutions, and individuals, including several professional athletes. Kimberly lectures at the Wharton School of Business, Villanova University, Temple University, Howard University, and Sharon Baptist Bible Institute. She is a dynamic speaker and trains clients in public speaking as well.

Prior to starting her own company, Kimberly served as a diversity and inclusion strategist for PricewaterhouseCoopers, Campbell Soup Company, Merrill Lynch, and Deloitte. She is also a senior partner at Ascendant Strategy, a branding, management, and literary strategy company specializing in increasing visibility for executive clientele. In addition, she mentors more than sixty college students of color who aspire to be in business and entrepreneurship.

There weren’t always seats at the corporate table for women, especially women of color, so I was very privileged to have a career in the corporate world for more than thirteen years. I was especially blessed to be in positions where I could ensure that other women, students, and emerging leaders of color also had these opportunities and exposure at the corporate table. Now, as an entrepreneur, being a woman is a huge advantage, more so than in corporate America, because woman-led businesses are thriving and growing around our country. I don’t take my role lightly at all because I know my path was paved by many women in corporations and many business owners before me.

As an African American woman and as a diversity practitioner, I am excited that companies are embracing diversity and inclusion and infusing this into their cultures as business objectives. Not only is it a good thing, but it really puts me at an advantage as an individual. It’s created a lot of opportunities for me with global and nonprofit organizations, as well as in universities as a teacher.

Being able to see new opportunities through three different lenses—as a corporate executive, an African American, and a woman—has been of great benefit to me as an entrepreneur. In fact, the greatest challenges I’ve had were not as an entrepreneur but in my corporate career. I rose quickly on the corporate ladder, and the higher I climbed, the more my age became an issue as it related to those to whom I reported. At some point I think the color of my skin limited my opportunities as well.

I will say that being a woman has never been a disadvantage in working with men. I love working for men. They have fewer insecurities, and they will give you exposure and let you shine, if you will. I’m sad to say that it has been women who have been a challenge to work with in both corporate and entrepreneurial settings. Men open up their Rolodexes to me with no trepidation. Here’s the key, though: I think it’s how you play the game. For me, when you have a strong sense of self and “sexy” in your mind, it is very easy to navigate and work with men. Women who are insecure and who don’t have that “mental sexiness” have a very hard time with men.

Of course, many women have different experiences from mine. I coach women lawyers, and they have huge challenges in the workplace with men and the competition for work, client exposure, in the partner ranks, and with their peers. As I climbed the corporate ladder, there were men who had my back, but in other kinds of businesses that still isn’t the case. And unfortunately, many women don’t seek out men as mentors to help them fight the good fight.

That is one area, though, where being a woman gives me a special advantage over men: coaching executive women. Men don’t see women through the same lens as other women do. They don’t have the same sets of challenges and triumphs. Men cannot really coach women to understand how to play the game at the top because they play the game under an extremely different set of rules. I can coach executive women as a person who has felt and experienced the same challenges, woes, and triumphs that they have.

I owe my personal success to a lot of people but particularly to the examples set by my mother, grandmothers, and grandfather. They taught me always to pay it forward and pass on to others the blessings that you received. Also, they taught me to be a person of integrity and to keep my word, and they instilled a strong work ethic in me. My mom was a corporate woman. She set some great examples for me in addition to the ones I just listed. She showed me that the image you show the corporate world isn’t merely external but something that comes from inside. It’s being who you are and not changing your identity. She taught me to develop myself as a person and to seek out opportunities to provide excellence to an organization. My desire to do my very best for my clients came from my grandparents, who instilled that in their children and grandchildren. I attribute everything to the foundation and the important characteristics my parents and grandparents gave me.

I’ll mention three other people who have been great influences in my life:

Charisse Lillie is president of the Comcast Foundation. She is ultrasuccessful, a woman I’d describe as a “quiet storm.” She was an attorney at a top firm in Philadelphia and was a senior human resources executive. She now contributes her efforts to many community organizations. She really knows how to play the game at the top in a great way. She is a mentor of mine who reinforced what my mother and others have shown me throughout the years: never change your individuality, keep your integrity, do your best, and you will get recognized. You don’t have to step over other women or cut down other women. You don’t have to play those negative games to be successful.

Dr. Westina Matthews Shatteen was one of the top people on Wall Street. She taught me the same thing: It is important as a black woman that you don’t change who you are to become successful. You have to be three times better than your counterparts, and, unfortunately, that is how it has always been. But it is up to you to decide how you want to be in your skin. No matter how tough a business you are in, you must always persevere and outrun people who are not true to themselves and to the objectives at hand.

Rosemary Tuner is a president of one of the largest UPS districts in the United States and one of the few African American women to hold that position. She taught me some great lessons. Accentuate the positive and develop the skills that you desire. Make sure that people see your talent. Go where the action is, get outside your comfort zone, and connect with great people—people who are better and stronger than you are now.

Not everyone who affects you deeply does so in a positive way, but we need to learn and grow from all our experiences. I was at a professional services firm where I reported to a woman who was extremely insecure. She surrounded herself with “yes women” to whom she obviously felt superior. I was one of two African American women on her staff. One time I made a presentation that received great reviews across the board. The next day this woman called me in, and I could tell she wasn’t happy with me. She said, “Kim, you always give me ‘Cadillac’ when all I request of you is ‘Pinto.’” These are two types of cars that are typically driven by black people. I paused in amazement that she said something like that. Then I said to her, “I’m sorry that you were not happy with the presentation and that you felt I gave a little bit more than you thought I should have, but I think a better analogy would be a BMW or a Mercedes. I can probably relate to those cars a little bit better.” I didn’t want to come out of my skin by stooping to that level of ignorance. But I felt much of her response was because of the color of my skin and what she thought I should be versus who I am.

Some advice I’d give to women starting their own companies: First, you’ve got to get your “board of directors.” By that, I mean your mentors, your sponsors, and other people who have been successful and have blazed the trail for you. Your network equals your net worth. You can’t be afraid to take healthy risks in business or in life. You have to learn to love who you are in the skin that you are in. Sometimes we get knocked down, but we can’t stay down. Get back up and try it again. You have to weather the storm without a shadow of a doubt that there is a rainbow to come.