Spreading “Sunshine” on Webex with Reese Witherspoon

Cisco Webex has been there… before the pandemic, and especially now when every aspect of our lives has been upended. We have helped keep businesses running. We have enabled teachers to continue teaching and inspiring their students. We’ve provided the technology for doctors to consult with each other and their patients. We’ve helped governments stay connected at the local, state, national, and international levels.

At the end of the day, Webex is about enabling conversations. Most often, they are work-related. Sometimes they are for fun connections with friends and family. But just recently, Cisco Webex helped Reese Witherspoon and Dr. Anita Phillips have a poignant, transparent, and honest conversation about race, community, trauma, and how we “hear” one another on Hello Sunshine’s Shine On with Reese at Home.

Watch the episode:

A Touching Story

There was one story Dr. Phillips told that resonated with me. As a mother of two daughters, now in college, I was especially touched by her story of showing her then young daughter women of color as role models. – from toys to books to even her pediatric dentist – showing her that there is beauty in all of us no matter the skin color. Dr. Phillips’ daughter noted early that the women labeled as “pretty” looked different from her… which made me think about the very notion of beauty and its assignment to skin color. You see, my daughters are brown, as am I… they are both beautiful young women, strong and self-confident. Yet daily, they know they don’t conform to these arbitrary standards and see how differently they are treated.

This is why we have to have difficult conversations and talk about our world’s visible and less obvious aspects.

Powering an Inclusive Future

At Cisco, we’re also having those conversations and finding ways to harness our strength to power an inclusive future for all. So, enabling this conversation with Reese and Dr. Phillips is very special and critical.

During the episode, Reese talked about faith’s importance during the pandemic and time of massive cultural change. And I concur. I have faith that as human beings, we can move forward and be better than before. I believe that we will come out on the other side, stronger, kinder, and more understanding than before. I have faith that we will realize being kind is an essential part of being human.

For Cisco Webex to be a part of Shine On with Reese at Home represents what we’re here to do — build connections to allow the best kinds of conversations.