(Photo: iStock by Getty Images, #StarStock image for the #UnfinishedBusiness movie)

Hello everyone! Today our guest contributor Stephanie Samuel is recounting a business travel experience that taught her quite a bit about confidence at work as a woman. Thank you Stephanie!

Business trips are a privilege that many often dream about. It is often embellished – on TV in the Jackson Hewitt “Where’s Janet” commercial and on the big screen in comedic movies such as the new film Unfinished Business – as an opportunity for ridiculously over- the-top jaunts.

Those images of all-expenses-paid excursions to The Big Easy or the home of Oktoberfest are alluring. Yet the truth is, besides the fact you’ll probably spend more time in a hotel or conference center than exploring the sights (sorry to burst your bubble), business trips can really test you ability to deal with high-pressure situations.

I’ve traveled to seven states to interview newsmakers, make connections and represent my publication. During these trips, I feel a rush comparable to  skydiving. Just as the skydiver is excited to push him or herself to the physical limit, I also feel the excitement to produce great work.

Yet I must confess the pressure sometimes brings out the anxieties and insecurities I have as a black woman working in a male-dominated industry. (A recent American Society of News Editors survey revealed men make up two-thirds of U.S. newsrooms).

An example that comes to mind happened during a trip to Tennessee. I was there in part to interview the executive producer and the writer behind an upcoming movie. It was a major film that focused on a conversional subject that our readers were following closely.These were important interviews, to say the least.

I had the interview’s time and location scheduled, my questions written up, and my outfit laid out days ahead. Then, the unthinkable happened – I lost my purse and just like that, the whole interview was in jeopardy. I immediately called the necessary people, rescheduled the interview times, all the while apologizing profusely. Yet, I still I felt like there was egg on my face.

As I arrived to the media room on schedule for my new interview time, I learned a male colleague who was scheduled to use the space before me had also arrived late. Although his tardy interview was now delayed just like mine, he kept his cool. He seemingly laughed the whole thing off as minor scheduling error.

To be clear, I harbor no hard feelings towards this gentleman. Yet I was definitely shocked at the difference in reactions to what was basically the same situation. Why was he so calm while I was panicked?

Former Wall Street Journal managing editor and Condé Nast Editor-in-Chief Joanne Lipman explained in a recent article titled “Women at Work: A Guide for Men”, that women continually feel the pressure to prove their competence and earn respect in the workplace even as they climb the corporate ladder. Men, on other hand, don’t have the same pressure because they assume they are owed respect by nature of their employment.

Fiscal Times writer Drew Gannon wrote in the article “How Men and Women Differ in the Workplace” that while women tend to enjoy challenges more than their male counterparts, men are more confident even when unprepared.

Gannon quoted George Washington University Law Professor Charles Craver’s essay “The Impact of Gender on Bargaining Interactions”, stating “Males tend to convey more confidence than women in performance-oriented settings.”

Craver’s essay continues “Even when minimally prepared, men believe they can ‘wing it’ and get through successfully.On the other hand, no matter how thoroughly prepared women are, they tend to feel unprepared.”

When I reflect on the incident, I now realize I was trying to prove my competency. I was also trying to break free of the stereotypes of the African-American always running on CP (colored-people) time, and the emotional, scatterbrained woman.

So how can women better flourish under pressure?

It is tempting to oversimplify the answer in a punchy phrase. (Be confident! Believe in yourself! Lean in!) In that particular incident, I needed more confidence. Most importantly, I needed to unpack cultural depictions of women and African-Americans that had followed me on my trip.

Similarly I think every woman must develop a process to better handle pressure and trust her own instincts and abilities.

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Stephanie Samuel is a reporter with over nine years of experience. She has written for various publications including the AFRO-American, the Prince George’s Sentinel, and The Christian Post. You can follow her on Twitter @stephlivinlive