Hello! I’m Chemere Davis and I am not a doctor. It’s legend in my family that by the time I turned four years old, I would tell anyone who would listen that I was going to become a pediatrician and have my own private practice one day. That’s the story that traveled with me through college and I prepared as though I was going to become that thing I had dreamed of and shared so proudly as a little girl. I was also going to be the first person in my family to graduate from college. I had no close personal ties to any doctors and my only real experiences with them were the appointments my parents made for me as a child. In my heart I just knew that I wanted to care for others, understand their pains and ailments, treat them, and send them on their way healthy and whole.
Sometime during my senior year of college, I decided that becoming a doctor was not my path; which, I think, shocked everyone, but mostly me because for so long I was defined by that thing that I so confidently knew I wanted to be when I grew up. I had made a decision that would change the course of my life and, for the first time, I had to decide who I wanted to become. I was scared, confused, and felt a little hopeless and I hit a low point.
I was in my 20s when I encountered my first Black female leader in technology. So, I never even considered that working at a big tech company was an option for someone like me. It took a very long time to believe that I could also be an accomplished Black female leader in technology in my own right. I dove headfirst into developing a strong technical background working in AI and machine learning while taking every opportunity to develop as a leader where finance and tech intersect.
During that period, I encountered very few Black women working in AI so I felt tremendous pressure and knew I wanted to make sure other women like me didn’t experience that same feeling of being “the only one like me.”
Around 2018, I met a tech leader when I was on the Microsoft campus during a visit for a nonprofit fair, and I connected with him on LinkedIn. In 2019, I saw a post that I thought took a lot of courage when he came out and publicly said: “I’m committed to increasing the diversity in engineering in Charlotte and I…need…help.” I messaged him and offered my assistance and that was the beginning of our professional journey together.
Over the course of the next year, we stayed in touch because we both had the same goal and one day, he reached out to me and said, “I think I have a job for you.” So, I’m not where I am today because I saw myself working at Microsoft; I’m here because I responded to a call from a courageous leader. As a result, I’m now able to develop and shape a new generation of Black leaders as an executive board member of Blacks at Microsoft in NC and worldwide while driving tremendous impact being authentically me. I’m privileged to be working for an organization that empowers me to build teams that reflect the world in which we live with intention. Changing the culture in tech and preparing our organizations for the future workforce requires us all to dare to do things differently.
In our first Emerging Business Leaders session, we mapped our leadership journeys which meant I had to recall and confront my highest highs and lowest lows. When it came time to share my story within our small working group, I realized that my lows were really what helped launch me to my next career high. There’s nothing wasted if you treat each experience as an opportunity to learn and practice growth. During those difficult times, I was able to learn more about myself, the type of life I wanted to lead, and then challenged myself to go after that next hard thing. I believe my responsibility as a leader in Charlotte and beyond is to reach back and bring others with me. That’s why I’m excited to be part of this EBL cohort and surrounded by others working toward similar goals.
So why do I believe I’m exactly where I’m supposed to be in my leadership journey? I grew up wanting to care for others and I’ve been able to do just that. I’m a problem solver, a connector, and a mentor. So while I may not have become the dream that I had at four years old, I’m becoming the dream of my future self.
