TD Bank’s Lakshmi Stockham Discusses Stress Related to Code Switching

Code switching — or the ability to switch between vernaculars or various levels of formality of a language — is a habit everyone takes part in, especially at work. However, when it comes to women of color, code switching becomes perceived as something political. TD Bank’s senior vice president of retail product and customer acquisition technology Lakshmi Stockham, who has spent much of her career in consulting, says code switching is a natural and necessary behavior that allows her to resonate with a variety of clients. However, although code switching is a skill, Stockham said it can become a detriment when people are expected to code switch in order to assimilate.