CHAPTER 8
Roadblocks
When Letitia Hanke launched her roofing company, she signed her contracts, “L. R. Hanke,” for two reasons:
She didn’t want customers to know she was a woman.
And she didn’t want them to know she was Black.
Prejudice wasn’t new to Letitia; she had been teased and ostracized for her race from childhood. At age eight, it got so bad that a teacher taught Letitia to play the trumpet during lunch so she wouldn’t have to spend recess with her bullies. But when you’re a business owner, Letitia came to realize, discrimination becomes more than an affront to your dignity; it is also an existential crisis for your bottom line.
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