While watching Tyler Perry’s presentation I learned so much about staying passionate and motivated to advance in my field. My biggest issue was I would always get discouraged when things didn’t happen for me quickly. Tyler Perry helped me to understand that if I really wanted to do something with myself it was going to take time and a lot of hardships. It took him 20 years to get to the point he is now. He started off living out of his car and he struggled a lot but he kept on pushing and producing plays. What I really took from the speech was when he said “We need to stop looking outside ourselves for heroes.” It made me really reflect on the images I grew up seeing and I realized I never really seen people I could relate to in films until he started to make films. Even if I did see black people in films they weren’t southern church going people. The speech really inspired me because at certain points in my life I limited myself because I felt like I couldn’t do certain things because of my sexuality. Then I heard him say “Don’t look for a seat at their table, make your own” that phrase stuck with me. Going forward I will always work hard on everything, never limit myself, take risks, and learn to grow from failures.
LGBTQ in Music 