Honest note why do they have to add she's an African-American woman it just makes it seem the only reason she was hired was because she was a minority and not do to her skill set.
[1]https://www.npr.org/2018/10/01/653318005/california-becomes-...
2. because it's newsworthy: historically african americans and women have been excluded from boards. So as the trend begins to shift, this happening is, as an outlier event, newsworthy
3. because having diverse views and voices at the table is better for solving problems. Since business is fundamentally about solving customer problems, it is noteworthy to highlight the swap (african american woman replaces european american man)
>The addition of Alford, an African-American woman, comes as Facebook and other Silicon Valley companies strive for the inclusion of more women and minorities in their boards and throughout their workforces.
That doesn't make it true, but it exactly what the author is intending to point out.
Insert a Jack Nicholson outburst here.
Sometimes a sentence is just a sentence.
It's obviously not about being a woman or being African American/Black. They just cannot be conservative (or liberal-democrat).