Jul 27, 2021
Today’s Invisible Stories guest is the renowned speaker and bestselling author Terry Dyer. Over a span of 15 years, Terry’s professional career has been spent in Corporate America working in both for profit and nonprofit environments. His background consists of Talent Acquisition Management, Recruitment, Client Services, and Program Management with Fortune 100 and 500 companies. Additionally, Terry has volunteered his time to various organizations throughout the San Francisco Bay Area, Sacramento, Salt Lake City, and South Florida communities. Since 2007, he has served as a member of the San Francisco LGBTQ Speakers Bureau. He and the organization aim to dispel homophobic and transphobic violence by educating people about the Terry’s memoir, Letters to a GAY BLACK BOY, sparks conversations around racism, inequality, homophobia, and more.
In this podcast, Terry and I discuss the process he underwent to find his authentic voice and to put pen to paper to write his memoir. He shares his insight on:
- How he started with a more academic tone in his book, but went back and revised the tone to have a more authentic voice. He wanted readers to feel like they were part of these heartfelt, open, honest, transparent conversations.
- His purpose in writing this book, and how he wanted to take sensitive, uncomfortable topics like racism and homophobia, delve into why those topics are uncomfortable, and cut through the noise to find comfortability.
- Even the audiences his book was not intended for, who had no shared experience with Terry, read his book and had it transform how they look at particular communities, and find universal commonalities.
- How he decided what to include in his memoir, and what went through his head when considering how he should portray real people from his life who might pick up this book.