For Black women across the Washington metropolitan region, the changing employment landscape is about more than a paycheck. It can mean reassessing a career, redefining success and deciding what comes next.
The numbers underscore the challenge. Revised employment data show that approximately 251,000 Black women lost jobs between January and August 2025, accounting for more than half of the employment losses among women during that period, despite Black women representing just 14.1% of the female workforce. By the end of 2025, there were 113,000 fewer Black women employed than at the beginning of the year.
The impact has been particularly significant in the DMV, where federal employment has long provided economic stability and career opportunities for Black professionals. Maryland alone lost approximately 25,000 federal jobs in 2025, according to state employment data.
For DC Black MBA, those realities call for support that extends beyond helping women find their next job.
“I am focused on doing more and providing as many opportunities as possible for Black women to invest in themselves both professionally and personally,” said Dr. Carletta S. Hurt, president of the DC Black MBA. “We know that when Black women proceed and prosper, everyone benefits.”
That commitment is behind Leading with Intention by Investing in Self, a three-part, in-person workshop series hosted by DC Black MBA in partnership with Blu Topaz Inc. Educational Consulting.
The series builds on the chapter’s August Women’s Symposium, MastHERpiece: Designing a Life with Intention, which challenged women to see themselves as architects of their careers, wealth, wellness and impact. The new workshops take that conversation a step further, asking women to consider where they can work next and who they want to become next.
The series opens Oct. 22 with “Recalibrating Your Compass,” led by Geraldine P. White, Founder and CEO of Identity & Impact. White will guide participants through questions of identity, direction and purpose.
“You can be proud of what you’ve built and ready for something different. Both can be true,” White said. “Investing in yourself includes giving yourself permission to revisit an earlier definition of success and consider what you want your next chapter to make possible.”
On Oct. 29, Tonya Camille, creator of Me in the Making and Unstuck & Inspired, will lead “Successful, But Stuck: How High-Achieving Professionals Reconnect, Realign & Move Forward.”
Her interactive workshop will help women identify fears, limiting beliefs and recurring patterns that may prevent them from moving forward, while developing a concrete next step. “You can’t change what you won’t acknowledge, and you can’t transform what you’re unwilling to confront,” Camille said.
The series concludes Nov. 5 with nonprofit leader, author and consultant Tokiwa T. Smith leading “Rest is Revolutionary.”Her session challenges a familiar expectation placed upon Black women: that achievement and service to others must come at the expense of themselves.
Smith said Black women must recognize that prioritizing themselves, setting boundaries and making room for joy are not signs of diminished ambition. “I believe we thrive when we engage in self-care and community care,” Smith said.
For Hurt, the goal is to create space for Black women to move beyond reacting to an uncertain economy and begin intentionally determining what comes next.
A job loss can require a new résumé. A changing workplace may demand new skills. However, a life transition can also become an invitation to reconsider purpose, boundaries, entrepreneurship, leadership, rest and the meaning of success itself.
For more information, visit the DC Black MBA website (www.dcblackmbaa.org)/.
