Natasha Bowman is a TEDx-speaker, two-time author, and leadership firm president that is often ... [+]
Natasha Bowman has it all. The New York City-based consultant is a well-known figure in workplace equity and has earned recognition for her work. The TEDx-speaker, two-time author, and leadership firm president is often invited around the world to speak and lend her advice and expertise. Bowman is also the face of bipolar disorder. She shared her recent bipolar diagnosis in a now-viral LinkedIn post. Bowman sat down for an interview to discuss her experiences living with bipolar disorder, the work she’s doing to de-stigmatize mental health conversations, and some of the ways to support those living with mental health issues.
Janice Gassam Asare: Natasha, for the Forbes readers that are not familiar with you, could you just share a little bit more about yourself and your background?
Natasha Bowman: Yes. So, I'm Natasha Bowman. I am a labor and employment law attorney by trade, but decided early in my career that I didn't want to be on the dark side of misconduct, if you will, in the workplace. And decided to be more proactive in preventing harassment, discrimination, toxic work environments. I went over to the human resources side and, as the head of HR for a couple of Fortune 500 companies and healthcare organizations before founding my DEI leadership development firm, Performance Renew, that's New York City-based.
Asare: I love how open and honest and candid you are on social media. You have a large following and people look to you for advice and for guidance. Not too long ago you shared your story and your experiences with your mental health. Could you share more about that experience and why you felt so compelled to share your story on LinkedIn?
Bowman: Absolutely. So as many people during the Covid pandemic, I experienced a mental health crisis leading into the pandemic. I was having all of this professional success. I had done my TED talk, I had my firm that was doing so well with all of these amazing brands that I was working with. I had just been named a Top 30 Global Guru in Management and was headed to Indonesia to accept that recognition. And then, as we know, in March of 2020, all of that came to a pause. I didn't realize at that time, but my value and my worth was very wrapped up into my professional success. And when that was taken away from me, my brain didn't know to how to abstain from doing anything. I started to deny my relationship with my relatives. I didn't want to be with my husband anymore, who I've been with for over 20 years...we're best friends. And we were...up until that point just, totally in love. And then all of a sudden, woke up one morning, I don't want to be married. I don't want to be a mother. It was just these thoughts that I'd never had before. That went on for a few months.
After the murder of George Floyd, as organizations wanted to talk about race and racism, my business picked up and I thought that would help me from a mental health perspective, but it didn't...it got worse. That sent me into a depression. In February of 2021, that depression hit rock bottom and it resulted in a suicide attempt. And I pretty much gathered every pill in my house that there was and drank a bottle of champagne in our guest bedroom. My husband tells me he found me just passed out unconscious in front of our bedroom door. I woke up in an inpatient mental health facility where I stayed for about 10 days, and it was while I was hospitalized there that I was diagnosed with bipolar disorder. And those feelings that I was feeling at the beginning of the pandemic was a bipolar manic episode. And then it went into a bipolar depressive episode. And after receiving that diagnosis at over 40 years old, I'm like, what does that mean for me? What does that mean for my profession and my credibility and capabilities? How will people view me? Should I even tell anybody about this?
In 2019, Natasha gave a TEDx talk called "The Power of One"
Asare: You are inspiring so many people to be open and honest about their experiences. I have to just acknowledge and thank you for that. Earlier this year, you and your husband started a foundation to increase conversations about equity and mental wellness. Can you talk a bit more about the work you do at the Bowman Foundation?
Bowman: After the LinkedIn post went viral, and I started receiving all of these stories from people about their mental health experience. And most people talked about how it impacted their ability to work and how they were saying, I wish I could be as brave and courageous as you and share my story, but I'm afraid of what my job is going to say. Or, I have a mental health condition and I've been adversely impacted at work or retaliated against if I did share. My husband and I were going through all these stories and we're like, we've got to do more than just talk. We founded the Bowman Foundation for Workplace Equity and Mental Wellness and our mission is to cultivate cultures of mental wellness in the workplace, to de-stigmatize mental illness, to create safe space for dialogue.
Asare: I'm really glad that you are really de-stigmatizing these conversations, especially in the workplace because that is so needed. There have been more conversations about what is called high-functioning depression since the death of Cheslie Kryst, the former Miss USA. What advice can you offer Black women, particularly those who might be experiencing high-functioning depression or any other type of mental health issue?
Bowman: That story resonated with me so much. I remember her winning that title and seeing her...she reminded me so much of me. I was a pageant child when I was younger and she had her natural hair. She's a lawyer and it was just...I was admiring her before her untimely passing and then reading from her mother of her being high-functioning. And that resonated as well because leading into my suicide attempt, no one knew I was in the mental state that I was in. I was on Zoom calls, smiling, engaging with my clients up until that day. I got released from the mental health facility on a Saturday. And that Monday I was right back on my Zoom calls, smiling and engaging. Why? Because as a Black woman, we often feel like we are not allowed to have mental health issues. We are not allowed to feel our emotions, especially as successful Black women. We had this perception that we should feel privileged and honored to have the opportunity to do the work that we do, to have these clients, to have these business, to have these positions that we've been given. So therefore, why are we sad? Why are we depressed? That's been ingrained in our culture.
Looking back...I have realized it's okay for me not to be okay. I don't have to show up as perfection every single day. We have to understand that the expectations that are upon us are unreasonable and unattainable, and that we need to be okay with getting treatment, even proactive treatment. I recommend Black women get a therapist even if you feel okay, because building that relationship first is essential. So that if you do start to have unusual thoughts and feelings, you have this relationship with the mental health provider that can help guide you, can help to treat you just like we would with a primary care physician. Talk openly about our mental health struggles. As I've been doing that, so many other people have been reaching out to me and we've been sharing, because a lot of times we feel alone in our thoughts.
"We founded the Bowman Foundation for Workplace Equity and Mental Wellness and our mission is to ... [+]
Asare: What do you think the family members, friends, and coworkers can [do to] support individuals going through mental health issues?
Bowman: The first thing is...don't try to devalue how someone is feeling. Don't invalidate them. Maybe your perception of them is different, but if that's how they're feeling, that's how they're feeling. Support their feelings. Also be in tune with them if you notice a shift in their behavior and don't necessarily look for just the downs. I think that's a mistake that we make with mental health. We think it has to be depression, or they have to be sad. It also is ups because I went very, very up before I went down, and the up was just as dangerous as the down. Any shift in behavior, just saying, ‘Hey, are you okay? This is what I've noticed and observed. Do you want to talk or do you want me to help? It's okay to reach out to someone if you don't want to talk to me.’ Really being in tune with your family and friends and noticing if they are shifting the behavior. And then validating those feelings again if they say that they are.
Last but not least, just being there as a supporter. A lot of times I've shared my mental health story with people very intimately after it happened and they never called back to say ‘are you okay? How are you now?’ So, keeping that engagement, again, just because someone is presenting that they may look better than they were before, or they are okay, keep checking in. We have this thing. ‘Check in on your strong friends.’ To me, there are no strong friends. People are always struggling with something and you just checking in and saying, ‘are you okay today?’ Or ‘just checking in on you, how can I support you?’ That could mean the world to someone. Actually, it can make the difference between life and death sometimes.
If you or someone you know is in crisis, contact the Suicide Prevention Lifeline at 1-800-273-TALK (8255).
This interview has been lightly edited for clarity and brevity.
Authors note: The author received an award from the Bowman Foundation.
