When We Are Seen

From one of the few women of color to reach the c-suite in Silicon Valley, Apple’s former chief of HR, co-creator of the Apple Store culture, and first VP of inclusion and diversity, comes a heartfelt story of growing up Black and female in a world with little regard for either and a practical road map for seeing the best in yourself and others in the workplace and beyond.

Growing up, Denise Young was the only Black ballerina in her dance studio—and she knew it. White girls would stare and comment on her feet, her butt, and of course, her hair. But she loved the art form of dance, and after years of dedication, she was finally given a principal solo. On the night of her performance, in the eyes of everyone from her instructor to her parents to Denise herself, she felt seen for the first time.

Denise’s life has been an incredible journey from that ten-year-old in a tutu to breaking the intersectional glass ceiling in tech leadership at Apple, none of which could have been possible without recognizing the potential in herself, acting on it, and seeking out that potential for greatness in others. As a “first and only” woman of color in boardrooms and across the Bay Area’s booming tech industry, Denise was a trailblazer in a business that was never built for her. Her first promotion to vice-president level coming under Steve Jobs, Denise built the culture of Apple retail stores from the ground up and was often in “the room where it happened.” But still she had to work harder and smarter to get heard—and she speaks candidly to that experience in these pages. 

In When We Are Seen, Denise shares insights on how to use your own story, empathy, intuition, and more to unlock the potential in yourself and others. Denise argues that bringing your true self to work—from wearing your beloved ‘locs to sharing your passion for music—and, in turn, wholistically seeing others is not a passive experience; it is a specific skill we can build. The result is a deeper understanding of what it means to be diverse, inclusive, and human on the job.