Sometimes sensitive conversations create controversy and misunderstanding, she said.
Her job is to change the landscape as racial equity director at Ford Motor Co.
"I'm Black all day," Henderson told the Free Press. "I can't turn my Blackness off because I'm at work. Issues affecting people in my community affect me in one way, shape or form. If no one is acknowledging I may be distracted by those things, I can't show up and do my work properly. It can harness resentment."
She officially began her new role in January as part of the automaker's global initiative to identify and dismantle the gaps that Ford discovered exist along what the company sees as an employee journey from recruitment to development and retention.