Najoh Tita-Reid took an international assignment and moved her family from New Jersey to Europe seven years ago.

Working in Europe, Tita-Reid says, has been like wearing an oxygen mask. It’s allowed her to breathe — to lead and perform without feeling the crushing weight of America’s dysfunctional racial dynamics at every moment.

And yet these jobs can be isolating. Rarely does Tita-Reid see another Black woman at her level. “On a day-today basis,” she says, “I am alone.”

“I’m very clear that wherever I go, I’m perceived as a Black man,” says Warren Reid, Tita-Reid’s husband. “Unfortunately, in the overwhelming majority of the globe, I don’t have a positive brand image. I’m mindful and not naive about that.”

Fortune Magazine, August/ September 2020