Black women are discriminated against for being Black and for being women but exist in both identities at all times. They face a vast array of microaggressions at work, including being more likely to be stereotyped as “angry” when they are as assertive as other populations.

Despite the challenges and barriers in their way, Black women are highly educated (Black women enroll in college at higher rates than men overall and, most notably, at higher rates than white men), ambitious (as many Black women as white men say that they want to become top executives), and they are the fastest-growing entrepreneurial group among women.

Black women’s drive to succeed is often not just for themselves, but also to lift up their communities. About half of Black women who want to become top executives (more than any other racial or ethnic group of women) say they are motivated by the desire to be role models for others like them, and more than half also say that they are driven by a desire to influence the culture of their workplace. Again, they are more likely than any other racial or ethnic group of women to name this as a motivation.

However, their achievements in the workplace are often in spite of glaring inequalities. Black women have a harder and worse experience than almost everyone else. They’re overrepresented in minimum-wage jobs, hired and promoted more slowly, they are often the only Black woman in the room, and they’re paid less than men and most other groups of women.

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