Authenticity and Accountability

Target Visual Merchandise Manager Blu spoke with Minneapolis College’s Apparel Technology class in mid-February about their journey, career experiences and authenticity in the workplace.

Graphic designer Blu began using LinkedIn not only as a platform for their resume, but to speak out and hold those in power accountable. They work as a Visual Merchandise Manager at Target. When they became a manager, Blu was told to regularly use the platform to display the work they do for Target, such as mannequin designs and set displays. 

“I thought, everybody does that. I’m just going to be another person in the wilderness posting mannequin designs,” said Blu. The graphic designer decided to post other parts of their life on LinkedIn, along with their daily work at Target, such as their artwork. “I started using it for my poetry. I would talk about any social injustice I saw in society.” 

This was met with some backlash from the human resources department at their store. “I was told to curate it in a way where I don’t want to step on any toes or burn any bridges,” said Blu. Why couldn’t building certain relationships be their choice? “I want to see if there is a bridge first. That's what I was using LinkedIn for. I don’t see a bridge yet. Can I get to a bridge and then I decide if I want to burn it down or not? It’s still a choice for me.”

Blu began building relationships with executives at Target headquarters. “I didn’t burn a bridge by speaking up,” said Blu. “I actually created a bunch of different bridges across the network of headquarters that I am now able to talk freely about and bring my authentic self to the conversations.” As a result of building their network, Blu has started working on a conceptual art design with Target’s logo.

Blu spoke with Minneapolis College’s Apparel Tech class in mid-February about their journey and career experiences. Authenticity in the workplace was a topic of conversation as well. 

"I found it both inspiring and eye-opening about the experience of working in corporate America as not only an artist, but specifically a Black artist. He communicated his philosophy of functioning in that space as an outsider, showing us how he demonstrated his abilities and he proved himself capable."
-- Jennie Leenay, Apparel Technology Student

“Anything that is co-opted by the mainstream usually comes at a heavy price for Black and Brown people,” said Blu. In recent years, employers are trying to encourage employees, specifically those of color, to bring their true selves to work. Blu mentioned specifically the topic of hair, and the regulations around Black people wearing their natural hair and being seen as unprofessional. “Some people might find that for the first time they can bring themselves to work with their natural hair, or they can speak without having this professional type of speech. If that is what people are doing it still comes at a risk because we are not used to celebrating that. We are used to reprimanding people for doing that,” said Blu. “I live in North Carolina and we still have a law that says you can’t wear your locs to work. How am I bringing my authentic self to work if that law says I can’t?”