Words by The Urban Journal
The fictional hallways of Pearson Spector Litt became her playground, and New York, her kingdom – but more than anything, Jessica Pearson is not a TV character.
Sometimes, shows come to mean much more than a few hours of entertainment. Characters become friends or enemies, plots our obsession. In recent history, few shows have delighted fans like Suits. At first glance, it’s easy to assume why: who wouldn’t want to work in an environment where fancy coffee and movie quotes rule the day?
Tall buildings and expensive lunches aside, it’s the characters who exalt the show. Although, trying to find a common answer to the ‘who’s your favourite character’ question might prove a little difficult. In the Harvey Spector camp, it’s the suits, the basketballs and the Bond-like coolness. For Mike Rossians, having a photographic memory is an automatic knockout. Donna fans will swear by her overlooked genius and Louis Litt fans will Litt you the hell up should you utter any disapproving words about their idol.
And for the Jessica Pearson fans – especially young women – there’s a different (and arguably more important) reason why she stands out from the crowd: her character, with all its elegance, represents much more.
If you haven’t actually seen the show (as hard as that is to believe), now might be time for a brief introduction: Harvey Spector (New York’s best closer) hires Mike Ross – a fraudulent, but smart college drop-out who stumbles his way through a job at one of New York’s most elite law firms. Whilst working their way through cases, solving personal issues and making pop culture references ad infinitum (from Game of Thrones to A Few Good Men), they hide a secret which could – and does – threaten the firm’s existence: Mike Ross is not a lawyer.
And Jessica Pearson, the subject of this article, is the managing partner – got it?
Most people who watch Suits are not lawyers, nor would they have much interest in becoming lawyers. This makes the show’s largely fictional legal framework and cases all the more entertaining. In Suits, anything goes. Literally, anything.
But cast aside that make-believe legal work and you’ll begin to understand why Ms Pearson’s fans adore her. A closer look at her character will reveal her appeal: she’s a Harvard educated boss of one of the world’s largest law firms. She also happens to be – and the show does well to make this point – a Black woman.
Given the recent focus on the need for diversity, equality and inclusion in all walks of life following the death of George Floyd and the protests that followed, you may conclude that times and cultural norms are changing. But walk into any ‘elite’ corporate organisation or business and you’re likely to realise there’s much more progress to be made. Women, and in particular, Black women, are massively underrepresented. Out of all fortune 500 CEOs, 7.4% are women. Black women and other ethnic minorities make up an even smaller percentage of this group.
After reading those statistics, and after understanding the challenges women face at work, it’s easy to understand why Jessica Pearson means a lot more than her TV character status. Representation is important – and her character, in so many ways, provides it. In the show, her race and gender are of little importance to the plot. That is what makes her work. Her achievements and Pearson Spector Litt’s status as the best have everything to do with her ability and little to do with her race or gender.
She’s respected and revered, not because she’s Black or a woman, but because she’s very, very good at her job (aside from hiring a fraud, of course). That, as subtle as it is, makes her much more than a Gucci-wearing, Few Good Men-quoting TV character. She becomes a goal, an idea that all of us – regardless of race or gender – should aspire to collectively achieve.
Without a doubt, TV shows and characters have an influence on those who watch them. In what might be a worrying indictment for some (we’re looking at you, Breaking Bad fans), there’s evidence that what we watch on TV impacts the way we act, feel and think.
If so, then there’s a whole host of young and not-so-young people being influenced, encouraged and mentored by Jessica Pearson.
In real life, there are plenty of women just like her. Women who consistently perform to a high standard. The problem? All too often, the focus is placed on their race or gender. Jessica Pearson bucks that trend.
Jessica Pearson isn’t a unicorn. She’s not a mythological creature. She’s an example of so many women out there that are ruling their part of the world and doing an incredible job.
Gina Torres
Large corporations and businesses are beginning to work towards increasing meaningful diversity. It’s hard to claim (as much as we’d like to) that Jessica Pearson had much to do with that. But she definitely had much to do with the number of women who will be confident and assured in their abilities – and those focused on increasing opportunities for others – as a result of watching the show.
So, the next time you watch Suits and your younger sister, niece or cousin asks who that woman with the corner office on the TV is, you’ll know – just as we do – that Jessica Pearson is not a TV character.
Check out our profiles of Ngozi Okonjo-Iweala and Thasunda Brown Duckett for examples of equally-influential Black women in corporate environments.