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Abstract
The purpose of this study was to explore Black administrative professional womens push out and opt out of student affairs and higher education workplaces. To construct this qualitative research counter-narrative, I used a Critical Race Theory and Intersectionality lens with a Black feminist epistemological underpinning. The Black women in this study reported experiences of institutional and community betrayal; navigation of workplaces where trauma, violence, and policing were norm; and issues of inequitable pay, resources, and differential labor expectations. These findings were contextualized through participant developed vignettes where media and pop culture imagery revealed feelings associated with participant experiences. Practitioners in positions of leadership can improve Black womens experiences in the workplace by creating intentional opportunities for cross campus and cross institution connections and by being mindful of the unequal distribution of office labor and workplace pay. This can serve to minimize feelings associated with tokenization and loneliness. Finally, researchers can serve to improve Black womens workplace experiences by centering Black women in practitioner roles in research and scholarship production, creating opportunities for and encouraging Black women practitioners to write about their experiences, and offering data-driven initiatives and practices to support the sustainability of Black women higher education and student affairs practitioners at PWIs.