“I feel nervous about entering the corporate environment, but I will not let that change my attitude toward success as a black woman.” —Mel, 21

Endia Beal is a North Carolina based artist and associate professor of art at Winston-Salem State University, whose work explores ideas of race, gender, and identity in the US. Through photography, her ongoing projects Am I What You’re Looking For? and Can I Touch It? confront headfirst the prejudices that many young people of color experience every day in the workforce.

For Am I What You're Looking For?, Beal asks young black women to share their personal experiences with office culture and how those experiences reflect racism's legacy in the US. To illustrate the constant friction between their homes and professional lives, Beal asks the women to sit for formal portraits in their own living rooms, situated before a custom backdrop depicting a typical American office space.

Here, Beal shares with BuzzFeed News her ideas behind the work and a selection of new portraits from the series.

As a black, female photographer, I witnessed the underrepresentation of contemporary minority stories within fine art circles and photojournalism. Over the past five years, I have used photographic narratives and video testimonies to capture the experiences of women of color working within the corporate space. My projects stem from my personal journey and struggles as a woman of color in the office. The photographic series, Am I What You're Looking For?, provides a vehicle for women to give their testimonies and speak about issues that are normally ignored.

This project focuses on young African-American women who are transitioning from the academic world to the corporate setting. It reveals their struggles on how to best present themselves in often male-dominated settings that prefer western standards of appearance. The work provides an in-depth investigation into the racial and gender inequalities for women of color in corporate America.

For me, Am I What You're Looking For? began with my first interview after college. I will never forget when I wore my Afro to an interview. It was obvious from the expressions of the interviewers that they were displeased with my choice of hairstyle. They glanced over my résumé, and seemed surprised by my poise and ability to articulate my level of expertise; yet, no matter what I said, it was obvious that they had made up their mind about who I was based on how I looked. As you can imagine, I did not get the job. After a series of rejections, I soon realized that I had to conform for career opportunities. But no matter how hard I tried to "fit in" I remained the "other."

Many of the women who participated in the Am I What You’re Looking For? series were my students at Winston-Salem State University in Winston-Salem, North Carolina. They would disclose their personal difficulties in securing employment after graduation. Employers would tell them that their natural hair was unprofessional or their name was too difficult to pronounce and would suggest they alter themselves for the job. These stories were all too familiar to my own struggles as a woman of color in the corporate space, but rarely are these stories shared with colleagues or management in fear of rejection or lack of opportunities.

For the series, I received a Magnum Foundation Emergency Fund grant. I traveled throughout North Carolina and photographed women in their childhood homes. These environments foster comfort allowing the women to be open about their concerns. I asked each woman to wear what she would love to wear to an interview and to imagine that she is waiting for the interview. An office backdrop is placed in their living room. The backdrop forces the viewer to reimagine the space.

I would like my audience to understand that these women are presenting their authentic selves. Yet they are still scrutinized and condemned for embracing their cultural identity. I realized that our personal experiences can be universally translated in ways we have never imagined. I receive messages from women all over the world who can relate to the experience of feeling uncomfortable at work regardless of their race or ethnicity. I hope the work begins a dialogue about racial and gender inequality in the corporate space and fosters real change for women.