Lindsey here! I’m so beyond thrilled to have a guest essay from Sesali Bowen, an author, culture critic, and brand strategist, and one of my favorite former Refinery29 colleagues. I had the good fortune of sitting near Sesali at R29, and we were both often there on Saturdays, when I was writing the Money Diaries book and Sesali was putting in overtime for the entertainment team. After she left Refinery, I followed her career as she became an editor at Nylon and then published her first book, Bad Fat Black Girl: Notes from a Trap Feminist. I have a mental list of all the writers I want to work with at The Purse, and Sesali was at the top.
Last year, there was a lot of news coverage of an unsettling trend: The unemployment rate for Black women in the U.S. was rising at the same time that the presidential administration was waging a war on diversity, equity, and inclusion efforts. I knew it was an issue that we needed to cover on The Purse, and I knew Sesali would be the perfect person to write about it. I just wish it wasn’t so personal! I’ll let Sesali take it from here.
For the first time in almost a decade, I am actively looking for jobs. While I expected to be on a bit of a learning curve and in steep competition with so many others in similar circumstances—you can’t log in to LinkedIn without a fresh layoff announcement hitting your feed—I was shocked and horrified at just how bleak things are for Black women on the job market right now.
Since last fall, general unemployment rates in the U.S. have ticked up to 4.4%, from 4% at the start of 2025. At the same time, the jobless rate for Black women has surged, from 5.4% in January 2025 to a high of 7.5% last September. Economist Katicia Roy estimates that “since 2020, the real unemployment rate for Black women is 10.23%.”
There have been several factors linked to this disproportionate destabilization. The huge AI push, which is automating jobs that humans were once paid to do, is one. Last year’s mass cut of government jobs—where Black women are represented at twice the rate as in the private sector—and the abrupt elimination of DEI programs under the current Trump administration are notable others. As one of those Black women sidelined from the job market, this crisis feels personal.
I’ve been self-employed since October 2019, when I was laid off as senior entertainment editor at NYLON following an acquisition and rebrand. I got lucky and sold my first book just months later—a collection of essays about Black feminism at the intersection of hip-hop, culture, and class. I spent the next year living on my advance and a few freelance commissions, and once my manuscript was done, I pivoted to copywriting.
The opportunity to transfer my writing skills to branding and creative strategy was afforded to me on the heels of 2020’s racial justice reckoning. Widespread reminders that Black Lives Matter forced white people to confront their own biases about people of color and actively move past them to be better allies. When it came to Black women, specifically, this was easy to do because we were in the final years of the #BlackGirlMagic era. Spanning the 2010s to early 2020s, this period amplified how important Black women are to American culture. The general sentiment during this era was to trust Black women, as we were venerated for our expertise on politics, education, beauty, entertainment, and so much more.
During this time, about 30% of my revenue came from speaking and book engagements at universities and conferences. The rest consisted of freelance copywriting and brand strategy for different agencies and clients. I was the quintessential “multi-hyphenate,” and I started bringing in six figures annually. I self-funded my podcast (about female rap, of course) for an entire season. I started working on my debut novel, and I paid off a good chunk of credit card debt.
Following Trump’s 2025 inauguration and the string of executive orders that followed, I felt a shift almost immediately. Many of the institutions that are most likely to support my work fall under Trump’s DEI umbrella. With his executive order dismantling federal funding for these initiatives, the organizations and academic departments that would have hosted me are now trying to remain compliant. My bookings have slowed to a near stop.
These limiting policies coincided with the great AI boom. While I was used to lulls as a freelance creative strategist and copywriter, I only worked on two projects last year, when I’m normally on six to 10. And while my career began as an entertainment journalist and culture critic, the continued deterioration of traditional media has also made this path unsustainable. So without any other viable options, I decided in late 2025 to start actively applying for full-time jobs.
I was surprised at how little traction I gained. Over six months I submitted dozens of applications that didn’t even land me interviews, even when I had an employee referral. The rejections led to a full-on existential crisis and forced me to ask myself some tough questions. Was I not using the right language to translate my skills? Does a multi-hyphenate muddy the waters when there are hundreds of applicants for a role? Did the author part of my career with the very Google-able online presence make me a red flag for behind-the-scenes roles that I could easily do in my sleep? Or was it the contents of said work?
Many people, regardless of race and gender, have been impacted by the aforementioned shifts in technology, industries, and presidents. But what has also shifted is the narrative about Black women. On Instagram, sociologist and New York Times columnist Dr. Tressie McMillan Cottom called this trend “the Great Retaliation against Black women in public life.”
We are no longer heralded as the virtuosos of American culture. In fact, the values that earned us such visibility in previous years—equality, progress, justice, democracy—are now threats to a regime set on dominance and a revitalization of white supremacy and patriarchy. It’s not far-fetched to assume that a Black feminist thinker isn’t an ideal job candidate. I may even be a liability for any institution looking to stay in line with this new status quo.
My experience, and the experience of my friends, leads me to believe that across sectors, Black women aren’t just losing our jobs—we are being deplatformed and erased. “I don’t think we’ve reached the pinnacle yet of this new era of white reconstruction, which punishes Black women for acquiring social, political, and economic capital and public influence,” said Dr. Cottom in her post.
What we're experiencing isn’t a trend—this is wrath.
-Sesali Bowen
Black women unemployment rates in the news
- In December 2025, “Black women were spending an average of 29.7 weeks, or more than seven months, unemployed—the highest rate among every group of women and among all men except for Black men, who had a slightly higher average,” The 19th* reports.
- Friend of The Purse Jennifer Liu reported on the former federal employees who are helping their fellow Black women rebuild their careers after last year’s layoffs.
- “At the height of the summer volatility, Black women accounted for 54.7% of all female job losses, despite making up only 14.1% of the female workforce,” according to an analysis by the Institute for Women’s Policy Research.
- “Black women are the canaries in the coal mine, the exclusion happens to them first,” economist Katicia Roy told The New York Times last August. “[I]f any other cohort thinks it’s not coming for them, they’re wrong. This is a warning, and it’s a stark one.”
- “When we only focus on the stat, we risk flattening Black women into outcomes instead of honoring them as professionals with expertise, institutional knowledge, and leadership potential,” Minda Harts, author of The Memo: What Women of Color Need to Know to Secure a Seat at the Table, told writer Minda Honey in a recent piece for Harper’s Bazaar featuring five Black women sharing their own layoff stories.
- This week, Bloomberg gathered five Black leaders to discuss the DEI backlash since Trump took office last year. The group includes former IBM CEO Ursula Burns, who said: “One of the most frustrating things is that we actually give validity to these small minds, that we have to defend the fact that we are doing a good job like everybody else who is afforded the fundamentals: good education, reasonable health care, reasonable food, safe places to live.”
What else we’re talking about
- As Gen Z Black women embark on their hair journeys, what are they asked to sacrifice in the name of identity? I recently wrote an essay about the resources that go into our hairstyles and what they mean. -Sesali
- I’m always happy to extoll the many virtues of condo living (I get most of the benefits of homeownership without the hassle of having to shovel the snow or take out the trash), and I found this Atlantic story both depressing and unsurprising. We need more affordable housing in the U.S., and multi-family units are a great solution. The NIMBYs need to pipe down! -Lindsey
- After my friend Jen won lottery tickets, I went to see Giant starring John Lithgow last week with literally zero idea what the play was about. After seeing the play, I’ve been doing some reading on Roald Dahl, whom Lithgow portrays, and his shocking antisemitism. It was pretty heavy subject matter for a Saturday night but extremely prescient. -Alicia
- I don’t have the strong feelings about Lindy West that so many people (young-ish women?) on the internet seem to, but I was still curious about all the controversy surrounding her new book, Adult Braces. I loved Kate Lindsay’s interview with Scaachi Koul on Slate’s ICYMI podcast diving into all the drama. I immediately put a hold request on the audio version of West’s new book on my Libby app, as well as one of Koul’s own books of essays, Sucker Punch. -Lindsey
- Okay, can we all agree here that this family making $500k on the Upper West Side is objectively well off? If they're middle class, what does that make the rest of us??? -Lindsey
On our radar
- The Renegade Craft Fair in April! I recently bought a bunch of materials to support my new hobby: scrapbooking. So many people are picking up analog hobbies to get offline. Having something new and creative to do with my hands in the midst of grief and career spiraling has been a great distraction. -Sesali
- The 50th edition of Home Economics is coming out next month, and we’d love to know: What’s your favorite tidbit from a past edition? Or is there something you learned from reading them? You can drop your thoughts in this form or in the comments!
TikTok of the week
@aliciatalksmoney 3/21/2026: The disconnect between an economy that’s doing “well” and our experience of it. #economy #inflation #unemployment
♬ original sound - Alicia Adamczyk
Stat of the week
$3.98
- The average price of a gallon of gas in the U.S. today, up from $2.98 one month ago, according to AAA.
What else we published on The Purse this week
Lindsey Stanberry
Let us know!
Lindsey Stanberry
She bought her house with no down payment and no PMI!
Lindsey Stanberry
Such an inspiring story.
Best money we spent last week
- My weekly B12 shot at LaserAway. It’s $300 for 12 shots, which I financed at 0% for $50 a month. -Sesali
- We celebrated two birthdays in my husband’s family last weekend, and we spent around $140 on gifts total. -Alicia
- I repotted a couple of plants last weekend and had a really lovely time taking a long walk with my kid to pick up more potting soil and a new pot ($17). -Lindsey
