Tiny Papercuts: How Karlyn Percil Overcame Microaggressions in the Workplace One Planner at a Time

Panic attacks.

Crying in the office washroom.

These were the emotions felt by Karlyn Percil as she navigated the psychological minefield that was the corporate workforce.

A survivor of sexual abuse, the St. Lucian-born native emigrated to Canada and sought a lucrative career as a professional in Canada’s financial industry.

But for two decades, she had to endure toxic microaggressions directed at her in the workplace. Cutting remarks about her hair, her clothing, her speech, even her race.

Percil recognized this type of behaviour was inappropriate in any setting, let alone in the workplace, and set out to enact change. That’s why she started her own women’s leadership group, SisterTalk.

Today, Percil works to empower Black women to love themselves and to find their purpose and live life to its fullest potential.

“There is an egregious lack of representation of Black, Indigenous, and Women of Colour in the C-Suite industry,” explains Percil. “In order to accelerate the advancement…organizations must ensure that there are specific strategies, designed through the lens of intersectionality and lived experiences, to address the lack of representation in the C-Suite and in board rooms.”

Aside from being an author, a certified life coach, a motivational speaker, and Elephant storyteller, Percil is also a successful entrepreneur. In 2017, she launched The Success Planner, a guide for ambitious women who wish to achieve their dreams.

According to the website, “The Success Planner combines proven field-tested success and growth mindset strategies, neuroscience [and] positive psychology” in a convenient monthly and weekly format to optimize a person’s success in the most vital aspects of their life—personal and professional.

In 2018, I had the honour of hearing Percil speak at Make Lemonade, a female-centric coworking space located in Downtown Toronto.

There, she laid out her history and her struggles and how she conquered racial adversity to follow her new path of empowering minds and hearts.

Percil reveals candidly that bullying does not end on the school playgrounds, and is very much alive and rampant among adults in the workforce.

Says Percil to the Make Lemonade community: “Being bullied at work was something I didn’t expect. Being an adult in Corporate – no one talks about being bullied. I didn’t make lemonade at that time because I didn’t know what to do with the lemons. So I cried and asked WHY – why was this grown woman picking at me? What did I do wrong?”

Percil is a huge proponent of using visualization techniques in order to set goals and to get things done. She believes mindset is key to becoming aware of what’s capable and not be kowtowed by the weight of Imposter Syndrome.

“Emotions or bodily sensations is just data,” said Percil. “It’s a signal that you are aligned or NOT aligned with your values or belief system. That INNER information is our internal compass….When we’re curious, we uncover the WHY and sometimes the WHY might be we need more information or we need to step away or we care so much that we’re overly cautious and might be afraid of the success coming our way.”

As a Black woman in the workforce, I too had been victimized by microaggression. I was keenly aware of how differently I was perceived and treated when I wore my hair naturally versus when I wore my hair in a more European style.

It is both disturbing and disheartening that coworkers feel the need to vocally denigrate my appearance; as a person of colour, I often don’t have the luxury to let my hair just exist without judgment.

It was through Percil that I came to understand that these behaviours were neither appropriate nor warranted, and that I had a right to speak and act my truth just as any other individual in the corporate space.

In 2018, I got my life and my values in order, and relied heavily on the power of writing things down in a planner as a first step to becoming more intentional and mindful.

What seemed like such a small task was vitally instrumental in all the success and goals I’ve accomplished so far in my adult life. This shift into incorporating planners into my lifestyle I attribute in no small part to Percil and her ability to inspire and women from all walks of life.