Reese’s Thesis II: We got in the room. Now what?

By Jamila Reese 

JA West Coast Correspondent 

For generations, the goal was access.

Access to education.

Access to opportunity.

Access to rooms we were never meant to enter.

We were told if we worked hard enough, if we were disciplined enough, if we proved ourselves beyond question, the doors would open.

And they did.

We are in the rooms now.

Boardrooms.

Federal agencies.

Corporate leadership meetings.

Decision making spaces that once felt completely out of reach.

We have titles. We have credentials. We have presence.

So why does it still feel like we are waiting for something?

The truth is, access was never the final objective. It was the beginning.

Somewhere along the way, we mistook being invited into the room for having influence inside of it.

Those are not the same thing.

Being in the room means you were selected.

Having power in the room means you shape outcomes.

Too often, we are present for the conversation but absent from the decision.

We are asked for input, but not entrusted with control.

We are visible, but not always valued in the moments that matter most.

And because we worked so hard to get there, we hesitate to challenge it.

We do not want to be labeled difficult.

We do not want to risk the seat we fought to earn.

We do not want to confirm the assumptions that were placed on us before we arrived.

So we adapt.

We observe before we speak.

We measure our words.

We navigate carefully.

There is wisdom in that. But there is also risk.

Because if all we do is adjust, we never actually shift anything.

Systems do not change simply because we are present. They change when we understand how they operate and where influence actually lives.

Influence is not always loud.

It is in who sets the agenda.

Who controls the budget.

Who makes the final call when the room is divided.

It is in relationships built before the meeting even begins.

And if we are honest, many of us were taught how to enter the room, but not how to move within it.

We mastered professionalism.

We mastered performance.

But we were not always taught strategy.

Strategy requires a different mindset.

It requires asking different questions.

Who really holds power here?

What decisions are already made before this meeting starts?

Where is the leverage?

It also requires something harder.

The willingness to use your voice, even when it is uncomfortable.

Because presence without participation becomes decoration.

And decoration does not change outcomes.

This is not about being confrontational. It is about being intentional.

It is about understanding that once you are in the room, your responsibility shifts.

You are no longer just representing yourself.

You are shaping what becomes possible for those who come after you.

That is weight. But it is also opportunity.

We asked for access. We earned access.

Now we have to decide what we are going to do with it.

The thesis is simple.

Access gets you in the room.

Strategy determines what you leave with.

From Jackson to the Pacific, the thesis remains the same. Know the system. Know yourself.

In honor of my father and the original Reese’s Thesis.