Like many ambitious Wal-Mart employees, Edith Arana imagined that she had a bright future with the world’s biggest retailer. She had her heart set on becoming a member of management and was sure she was on the fast track to achieving her goals. She worked extra long hours and re-arranged her life placing Wal-Mart’s priorities above time with her family.

There was just one problem: Edith Arana is an African-American woman.

After several attempts to apply for management training and positions, she was told flat-out “there’s no place in management for people like you.”

After devoting years of her life to the company, which included spending time away from her dying husband, Edith began to realize that she could never rise in the ranks of Wal-Mart, a company with a documented aversion to promoting women and minorities. When her husband died, Edith was left to raise two children on her own and she accepted that her dreams of a career at Wal-Mart would never come true. She finally left the company and resumed her studies.

Edith has courageously spoken out about the discrimination she experienced at Wal-Mart. She is one of the named plaintiffs in the class-action gender discrimination suit against Wal-Mart, the largest lawsuit of its kind in the history of the U.S.