
Sign up to save your podcasts
Or


Like many young black people, Lucrece Grehoua is an expert in code-switching - used to changing her voice, accent and mannerisms when she enters white-majority spaces. But should she really have to? In this programme, Lucrece reveals the cost of hiding who we really are in the workplace and explores the mechanics of code-switching, a term first used to describe the experience of African-American students in the 1970s. She shares her own story of being taught to become “a palatable black girl with a soft voice and an unceasing smile”. And she talks to other young professionals about the steps they’ve taken to fit in – from adopting a “white voice” in the office to changing how they behave and switching up their look. We also hear from those who, tired of code-switching, are daring to be themselves in the corporate world.
Lucrece speaks to:
Picture Credit: Jeff Overs/BBC
By BBC Radio 44.3
257257 ratings
Like many young black people, Lucrece Grehoua is an expert in code-switching - used to changing her voice, accent and mannerisms when she enters white-majority spaces. But should she really have to? In this programme, Lucrece reveals the cost of hiding who we really are in the workplace and explores the mechanics of code-switching, a term first used to describe the experience of African-American students in the 1970s. She shares her own story of being taught to become “a palatable black girl with a soft voice and an unceasing smile”. And she talks to other young professionals about the steps they’ve taken to fit in – from adopting a “white voice” in the office to changing how they behave and switching up their look. We also hear from those who, tired of code-switching, are daring to be themselves in the corporate world.
Lucrece speaks to:
Picture Credit: Jeff Overs/BBC

7,789 Listeners

1,063 Listeners

5,509 Listeners

1,798 Listeners

1,877 Listeners

1,869 Listeners

1,072 Listeners

2,117 Listeners

1,973 Listeners

494 Listeners

2,087 Listeners

488 Listeners

602 Listeners

108 Listeners

46 Listeners

301 Listeners

837 Listeners

63 Listeners

51 Listeners

3,211 Listeners

1,041 Listeners

73 Listeners

131 Listeners

51 Listeners

51 Listeners