The power of authenticity: Why Black women are no longer conforming and healthcare needs to take notice.

I've become really good at hiding.

It's probably the reason I love my winter coat. It hides pretty much half of my face.

For the last 18 years, I, like many other women physicians, have become really proficient at hiding behind another coat- the white coat.

And if you are a black woman wearing that white coat, you become really good at hiding. We become adept at hiding our speech, our natural hair, our background and our anger at a system that tells us that we can only thrive if we aren't ourselves. Make the patients comfortable.

Don't make waves. Stay under the radar.

You are told to speak up, but not too much.

You are told to strive for leadership, but don't aim too high.

You are told to connect with your patients, but not too much.

A patient asks you to pick up their food tray on our way out while they're on the phone, although you have your white coat and stethoscope on. It was a honest mistake, Omolara.

You don't sleep after a night full of admissions and stay up all night to make sure you can present the patients perfectly. Can't let them see you make a mistake- they might think you're not built for this, Omolara.

Omolara, why does everything have to be about race- we are colorblind here.

That's what we hear in one form or another from as early as medical school and so these are the rules of the game we learn to play.