Tsedale M. Melaku is a sociologist and postdoctoral research fellow at the Graduate Center, City University of New York (CUNY). She is the author of the 2019 book, You Don't Look Like a Lawyer: Black Women and Systemic Gendered Racism. Her research focuses on how race and gender affect advancement in traditionally white institutional spaces and how white racial framing and systemic gendered racism play a crucial role in the experiences of women of color within predominantly white spaces. Melaku is particularly interested in how the intersection of race, gender and class operates on the experiences of women of color in elite work environments. Presently, she is developing her theories on invisible labor and its impact on marginalized individuals in the workplace. Melaku received her PhD and MPhil in Sociology from the Graduate Center, CUNY, and her BA in Sociology and Africana Studies from New York University.