Science & Technology

4 Ways to Redefine Power at Work to Include Women of Color | Rha Goddess & Deepa Purushothaman | TED

Published

4 years ago

March 8, 2022

With many women of color considering exiting the workforce due to unfair conditions, it’s time to reshape systems in order to put an end to this massive loss of talent. Exposing the harmful repercussions of racist, toxic organizational cultures, soul coach Rha Goddess and corporate inclusion visionary Deepa Purushothaman share four pathways to reimagine work so women of color are centered as leaders. They urge us to aspire to more than a “seat at the table” and, instead, to remake the whole table — together — and finally stop fighting for “one broke-ass chair.”

Visit to get our entire library of TED Talks, transcripts, translations, personalized talk recommendations and more.

The TED Talks channel features the best talks and performances from the TED Conference, where the world’s leading thinkers and doers give the talk of their lives in 18 minutes (or less). Look for talks on Technology, Entertainment and Design — plus science, business, global issues, the arts and more. You’re welcome to link to or embed these videos, forward them to others and share these ideas with people you know.

Become a TED Member:
Follow TED on Twitter:
Like TED on Facebook:
Subscribe to our channel:

TED’s videos may be used for non-commercial purposes under a Creative Commons License, Attribution–Non Commercial–No Derivatives (or the CC BY – NC – ND 4.0 International) and in accordance with our TED Talks Usage Policy (). For more information on using TED for commercial purposes (e.g. employee learning, in a film or online course), please submit a Media Request at

Up Next

Mac Studio and Studio Display: Everything to know

Don't Miss

LIVE: Apple’s March 8 ‘Peek Performance’ Event: CNET Watch Party

21 Comments

Usman Ali

March 8, 2022 at 8:01 pm

Wow ???? beautiful ❤️

Reply
ShaunieBNaturalista

March 8, 2022 at 8:04 pm

This woman of color has no interest in corporate america. I started my own business. I’m making more money than ever before. The system is not broken. It functions exactly as it was intended to function.

Reply
Kevin1996galvez Galvez

March 8, 2022 at 8:09 pm

First comment.

Reply
outlander

March 8, 2022 at 8:15 pm

Im so tired of the “people of color” term. Stop lumping all non-whites together. We do not have the same experiences in America! A lot of “minorities” are even racist towards each other!

Reply
Meriem mira

March 8, 2022 at 8:21 pm

first com

Reply
Aidai Bektursunova

March 8, 2022 at 8:34 pm

Perfect

Reply
Elisabete Monteiro

March 8, 2022 at 9:11 pm

And because of all that We are still demanding too much of ourselves! I don’t think the solution is to glamorise that, no sirs! Sad! Let us be! And be and be… whatever we want to be.

Reply
Reedan Al Ahmad

March 8, 2022 at 9:24 pm

❤❤❤

Reply
Matthew Morton

March 8, 2022 at 9:26 pm

Is white a color?

Reply
- Daniel Naranjo
  
  March 8, 2022 at 9:37 pm
  
  No
  
  Reply
- Those Who Wander
  
  March 8, 2022 at 10:58 pm
  
  No. It’s the absence of color.
  
  Reply
- Bless Em
  
  March 8, 2022 at 11:33 pm
  
  @Daniel Naranjo it isn’t?
  
  Reply
- Dialectical Monist
  
  March 9, 2022 at 1:00 am
  
  It’s “a” color, but not “of” color.
  
  To be “of” color, you have to have a searing passive aggressive rage induced psychotic persona.
  
  Reply
- Prithvi Sukka
  
  March 9, 2022 at 4:59 am
  
  Isn’t white the absence of color
  
  Reply
- Narrative Gatherer
  
  March 9, 2022 at 3:49 pm
  
  @Daniel Naranjo white is the absence of color, eh?
  
  Reply
Jordan Ellis

March 8, 2022 at 9:38 pm

“People of color is an awkward phrase that obscures meaning rather than enhancing it.” -George Carlin

Reply
- InfinitiveZ
  
  March 8, 2022 at 10:19 pm
  
  Carlin also said that in regards to utilizing the term to only mean Black people, because at the time, it was the only instance in which that term was being used. To dog whistle the old term, “colored people”.
  
  Carlin would likely woop your ass right now for insinuating during an age like this, where people of color are utilizing it to represent their minority populations and cultures in the US, that he had any misgivings for a term they themselves are using to recognize one another. So you can sit down now.
  
  Reply
InfinitiveZ

March 8, 2022 at 10:34 pm

I’m just going to bet right off the bat, there’s going to be like 250 comments about how two women of color shouldn’t be talking about color, on a topic that demands we recognize WHY there’s so few women of color in the workforce and leadership.

Seems employers can pick and choose based on skin color all they like, but the moment we even dare mention it, we become the problem.

Reply
Anthony Benton

March 9, 2022 at 12:01 am

Two successful women of colour talking about women of colour being disadvantaged, to an auditorium of mainly white women. Yep…

Reply
Boitumelo Sandra Phoma

March 9, 2022 at 10:33 am

This is everything!!!!

Reply
Amu Shakya

March 9, 2022 at 10:36 am

No offense intended but is her surname goddess or did she rename herself as ‘Goddess’?

Reply

Science & Technology

Why a TikToker is Trying to Crowdfund the Purchase of Spirit Airlines | Equity Podcast

36,000 people pledged $23M to buy Spirit Airlines over a weekend, but can TikTok crowdfunding actually save the world’s most complained-about airline? Our Equity podcast breaks down the money vs. the meme and more of the week’s biggest deals:

Published

17 hours ago

May 8, 2026

CYBER TECH TV

36,000 people pledged $23M to buy Spirit Airlines over a weekend, but can TikTok crowdfunding actually save the world’s most complained-about airline?

Our Equity podcast breaks down the money vs. the meme and more of the week’s biggest deals:

Science & Technology

Everyone wants a piece of the enterprise AI pie | Equity Podcast

Everyone wants a piece of the enterprise AI pie, and this week, we saw a string of companies making their moves. From Anthropic and OpenAI announcing new joint ventures targeting enterprise AI deployment to SAP dropping $1B on German AI startup Prior Labs, it’s becoming clear that if you’re a startup building enterprise tools, you’re…

Published

21 hours ago

May 8, 2026

CYBER TECH TV

On this episode of TechCrunch’s Equity podcast, hosts Kirsten Korosec, Anthony Ha, and Sean O’Kane dig into the week’s enterprise AI deals, the xAI-Anthropic compute arrangement, and what it all means ahead of what could be a big IPO season.

Subscribe to Equity on YouTube, Apple Podcasts, Overcast, Spotify and all the casts. You also can follow Equity on X and Threads, at @EquityPod.

Chapters:

00:00 Intro

00:31 Spirit Airlines & the crowdfunded “people’s airline”

03:25 xAI x Anthropic deal: is xAI becoming a NEO cloud?

13:47 Haun Ventures & a16z’s crypto comeback

17:48 Aurora Innovation lands a commercial trucking contract

19:27 A big week for enterprise AI: who’s actually making money?

26:45 The Pentagon’s AI spending spree

31:04 Outro

Science & Technology

Why AI Is Unlikely to Become Conscious | Anil Seth | TED

We see consciousness in AI the same way we see faces in clouds, says neuroscientist Anil Seth. He explores the all-too-human tendency to project inner life onto machines that are brilliant mimics, not sentient beings, and gives a definitive answer to the urgent question: Will AI ever gain consciousness? (Recorded at TED2026 on April 16,…

Published

24 hours ago

May 8, 2026

CYBER TECH TV

Join us in person at a TED conference:
Become a TED Member to support our mission:
Subscribe to a TED newsletter:

Follow TED!
Instagram:
LinkedIn:
TikTok:
Facebook:
X:

The TED Talks channel features the best talks and performances from the TED Conference, where the world’s leading thinkers and doers give the talk of their lives in 18 minutes (or less) — plus originals, podcasts and exclusive content. Look for videos on Technology, Entertainment and Design as well as science, business, global issues, the arts and more. Visit for our entire library, transcripts, translations and personalized recommendations.

Watch more:

TED videos may be used for non-commercial purposes under a Creative Commons License, Attribution–Non Commercial–No Derivatives (or the CC BY – NC – ND 4.0 International) and in accordance with the TED Talks Usage Policy: . For more information on using TED for commercial purposes (e.g. employee learning, in a film or online course), submit a request at

#TED #TEDTalks #AI