Starbucks Chief Operating Officer Rosalind Brewer continues to break new ground in corporate America.
In late February, Brewer, who is the first black woman in the cafeteria and the first female COO, will step down to serve as CEO of drugstore chain Walgreens. In this new role, she will be the only black woman currently serving as CEO of the Fortune 500, and only the third black woman to lead a Fortune 500 company in history. Ursula Burns, who served as CEO of Xerox between 2009 and 2016 was the first, and Mary Winston, who served as interim CEO for Bed Bath & Beyond in 2019, was second.
Prior to joining Starbucks in 2017, Brewer spent five years as CEO of Sam’s Club, which is owned by Walmart. As a longtime executive in corporate America, she spoke openly about the prejudice and challenges she faced as one of the few black women on the board.
Starbucks chief operating officer and group president Rosalind “Roz” Brewer speaks at the annual shareholders’ meeting in Seattle, Washington, on March 20, 2019.
Jason Redmond | AFP | Getty Images
“When you are a black woman, you are very wrong,” she said during a speech in 2018 at her alma mater Spelman College, which is an HBCU for women only. “You are mistaken as someone who couldn’t really have that top job. Sometimes you are mistaken for a kitchen helper. Sometimes people assume that you are in the wrong place, and all I can think of in the back of my head is: ‘No, you are in the wrong place.’ “
During the speech, Brewer recalled the occasion when he was invited to an exclusive CEO roundtable in New York City, when he served as CEO of Sam’s Club. During the reception, she said, she met a fellow CEO and introduced herself in the same way that the other men in the room introduced themselves, “Roz Brewer from Sam’s Club”. After exchanging presentations, she said that the other CEO asked what she was doing at the company and asked if she led marketing. Intrigued by the question, since the invitation to the event indicated that it was a round table for CEOs, Brewer said that she replied, “No, this is part of my organization.”
After the man continued the conversation by asking if she worked in merchandising, Brewer said she looked at the other CEO, as she was actually serving as the event’s main lecture. “I liked the expression on your face when my bio was read,” she said. “It was a good day.”
Brewer, who was listed 48th on the Forbes 2020 Power Women list, explained that the CEO roundtable was one of many incidents in which she encountered prejudices at work and outside. “If there is a place where there is no prejudice, I have not found it,” she said.
Recognizing that many women suffer from prejudice and gender discrimination in the workplace, Brewer said his biggest message to women in business is “stay strong” and know that “your voice is important”.
“You will make mistakes sometimes and there are ways to correct your mistakes,” she told television host Shaun Robinson in a December 2020 interview on Facebook. “First, admit that you made the mistake. But keep using your voice.”
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