The character who becomes Don’s secretary in season 5 and is SCDP’s only Black employee is Dawn Chambers.
Dawn is hired during the fifth season as Don Draper’s secretary, joining Sterling Cooper Draper Pryce at a time when the agency’s overwhelmingly white workplace reflects the racial barriers of early-1960s America. Her hiring is treated as unusual within the office, and the show uses her position to expose the assumptions and discomfort of her colleagues.
Dawn’s role is not simply administrative. She must navigate Don’s demanding behavior, office gossip, and the limited opportunities available to Black women in professional workplaces of the period. Her presence also makes the agency’s lack of racial diversity visible to viewers and to the characters themselves.
A frequent mix-up is Shirley, who later works as Peggy Olson’s secretary, and Meredith, Don’s secretary in a later period. Carla is Betty Draper’s former household employee. Dawn is the secretary associated with Don during season 5 and the agency’s first prominent Black office employee.