Please Sit Over There

How to Manage Power, Overcome Exclusion, and Succeed as a Black Woman at Work

By: Francine Parham

Narrated by: Francine Parham

The key to your career advancement is understanding how power works—who has it, where it hides, and how it’s used. Please Sit Over There teaches Black women the career skills they need to navigate an uneven playing field and achieve long-lasting professional success.

Black women continuously navigate systems that were never intended for them while playing by a set of rules they never agreed to or were ever trained for.

In this book, Francine Parham shares her knowledge as a Black woman and a former global executive of two major corporations on how to move up in the workplace while maintaining a sense of sanity. The key skill—one that Black women are rarely taught—is understanding the power dynamics within your organization and learning how to “shift the power” to your advantage. Parham shows how to use your voice, strategically build the right relationships, and support others once you have achieved a powerful position—tools any woman can use to increase her power and ensure a successful, fulfilling career.

Parham says Black women are already empowered; there is no shortage of qualified professional Black women in the talent pipeline. But it does not feel empowering when organizations force Black women to work every day to overcome biases, discriminatory institutional practices, and unwritten rules of power at play that hinder their career development and professional advancement.

Please Sit Over There honors the painstaking work being undertaken to deconstruct broken institutions and demonstrates how Black women can achieve their goals while those institutions still exist—effectively opening doors for all women of color.

©2022 Francine Parham (P)2022 Francine Parham

Solid advice and necessary perspective

Very accessible book with great information for any early career professional. I learned a lot and will definitely share with others.

A powerful masterclass in self-advocacy

Deeply Relatable: navigates the generic "hustle culture". It speaks directly to the lived experience of feeling like an outsider in the boardroom. She validates the unique challenges of office politics and the emotional labor required to succeed in traditional spaces.

​Immediately Applicable: This isn't just theory. The book breaks down how to build "career capital," how to identify true allies versus performative ones, and how to articulate your value in a way that commands respect. You can read a chapter in the morning and apply its lessons in a meeting by the afternoon.

​Polished and Professional: The writing is sharp, authoritative, and incredibly well structured. It manages to be empathetic without losing its professional edge, making it a "must-have" for anyone’s executive bookshelf.

This is the book you’ve been looking for!

If you are a high achieving black woman at any level in the corporate world, this is the book you have been looking for that will help you get to the next level.

Loved it very helpful

Detailed…very relatable. The conversation you want to have with someone who understands what you’re experiencing.

Loved it!

Outstanding combination of story telling and teaching. I can relate to every story and know so many other black women who will learn and grow from Francine's experiences as they read this book. If you are a fan of Minda Harts, you will enjoy this. I will definitely be gifting this book to some loved ones and fellow leaders.