Tyler Perry is partnering with LinkedIn to talk about race in the American workplace. The film and TV boss and philanthropist will be LinkedIn’s first guest editor for their "Conversations for Change" series, which the career networking platform launched in order to allow users to connect through discussion topics relevant to careers.
The series kicked off on Monday (February 8) with Perry serving as the guest editor for the entire week.
“I wanted to be a part of LinkedIn’s Conversations for Change because there’s so much that is going on in the country that we need to talk about,” Perry told Variety. “The word ‘conversation’ means a dialogue between people, and in dialogue is where you find all of the truth, all of the pain, all of the nuance, and where you get to the heart of what’s really affecting so many of us.”
Some of the content includes a direct Q&A with Perry from LinkedIn users who’ve lost work amid the coronavirus pandemic. Available analysis shows that women, Black women in particular, are bearing the brunt of the economic fallout of the pandemic, many leaving the workplace and their careers at higher rates than other women.
“I really want to be a light for anybody out there who is looking to make their own way in the world,” Perry said, “and to let others know that you can do it, too.”
As part of the partnership, Perry was interviewed on CBS This Morning by Gayle King, where he talked about his own journey to success and his experiences with racism in the workplace.
Others to join in on this week’s conversation include Dr. Bernice King, CEO of the King Center in Atlanta, How To Be an Antiracist author Dr. Ibram X. Kendi, and Carla Harris, vice chairman and managing director at Morgan Stanley.
The content is available on LinkedIn News here.
Photo: Getty Images