70. The Bias Behind Impostor Syndrome with Danielle Barnes

What if the secret to overcoming your imposter syndrome lies in understanding systemic biases?

Danielle Barnes is the CEO of Women Talk Design, an organization on a mission to amplify the voices of women and non-binary folks in design and technology. She co-founded Austin Design Week and previously launched the first full-time user experience design immersive program at General Assembly’s Austin campus. She’s also the co-author of the new book, Present Yourself: Proven Strategies for Authentic and Impactful Public Speaking.

This week, Danielle joins the show to discuss an interesting insight from one of her recent LinkedIn posts where she was happy to realize that she hadn’t mentioned imposter syndrome a single time in her book. Instead discussing the themes of self-doubt through the lens of systemic and institutional bias.

Danielle unpacks the pervasive and insidious nature of biases that exist in society, workplaces, and even public speaking events. She discusses how these biases can lead to self-doubt and what is often mischaracterized as “imposter syndrome,” even among highly capable individuals from underrepresented groups.

Danielle shares valuable strategies for overcoming these biases. She emphasizes the importance of reframing self-doubt as a result of external systems and biases rather than an internal flaw or personal shortcoming.

Danielle provides some practical advice for building a supportive network of advocates, mentors, and sponsors who can help amplify your voice and help to create opportunities. She also offers guidance for those looking to become allies and leaders. Danielle gives advice on how these allies can work to actively create spaces for underrepresented voices to amplify their ideas, and how they can truly listen to these experiences without dismissing or rationalizing their biases away.

Topics:
• 04:42 – Women Talk Design
• 07:23 – Why women don’t want to talk at conferences
• 09:48 – “Stop Telling Women They Have Imposter Syndrome” Article
• 14:10 – Lots of the public speaking advice leaves out certain groups
• 17:19 – Systemic biases for new designers to keep an eye out for
• 26:17 – Finding allies and advocates is important
• 29:13 – More biases since going remote
• 33:41 – Advice here can be context specific
• 35:34 – What’s a skill set vs a personal trait?
• 38:56 – Personal limitations vs institutional bias
• 44:37 – How can we be allies?

Helpful Links:
• Women Talk Design
• Order Present Yourself
• Connect with Danielle on LinkedIn
• Stop Telling Women They Have Imposter Syndrome

Danielle Barnes
CEO of Women Talk Design // Co-Author of Present Yourself

About Danielle

Danielle is the CEO of Women Talk Design, where she’s on a mission to amplify the voices of women and nonbinary folks. She’s trained hundreds of individuals on the power of storytelling and how to become more con dent public speakers. She co-founded Austin Design Week, a week-long event celebrating the design community in Austin through 100+ free community-hosted talks, workshops, and events that ran from 2016-2021. Previously, Danielle founded and led education company General Assembly’s Austin campus, launched the San Francisco campus, and championed the first full-time User Experience Design Immersive program. She’s the co-author of Present Yourself, out in March 2024.

Connect with Danielle on LinkedIn

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