From Classroom to Career: Understanding Impostor Phenomenon in Black Women

This qualitative study examines how educational and workplace trauma shape the development and persistence of impostor phenomenon (IP) among a group of high-achieving Black women. While existing literature documents the prevalence of IP across demographic groups, much of the research centers on impostor feelings as an individual psychological deficit, insufficiently accounting for the structural and intersectional conditions that shape Black women's lived experiences. Drawing on Black Feminist Thought (BFT), Critical Race Theory (CRT), healing-centered engagement, and counterspace theory, this study reframes IP as a cumulative and socially triggered response to racialized and gendered institutional environments. Using a narrative inquiry (NI) methodology, two rounds of in-depth interviews, along with one focus group interview, were conducted with five high-achieving Black women from diverse educational and professional settings. The interviews explored how their experiences of exclusion, visibility, tokenism, and/or performance pressure unfolded over time. Findings indicated that early educational experiences, including tracking, diminished affirmation, and limited representation, established patterns of self-doubt that were later reinforced in workplace environments. However, participants described engaging in collective coping strategies, counterspaces, spirituality, and self-definition practices that disrupted internalized impostor narratives. Overall, this study contributes to the literature by integrating educational trauma, workplace trauma, and impostor phenomenon (IP) within an intersection framework and by centering the epistemic authority of Black women as a site of resistance and healing. Implications include the need for structurally informed interventions that move beyond coping strategies to address institutional contributors to impostor experiences.

Author dc:creator

• Scott, India Tierra

Advisor dc:contributor.advisor

• Hayes, Cleveland

• Black Feminist Thought
• Black women
• counterspaces
• healing-centered engagement
• high-achieving
• impostor phenomenon

Language dc:language.iso

en_US

Handle dc:identifier.uri

https://hdl.handle.net/1805/57287

OAI identifier oai:identifier

oai:scholarworks.indianapolis.iu.edu:1805/57287