Check Out Sara Blanchard’s Story

Today we’d like to introduce you to Sara Blanchard.

Hi Sara, we’d love for you to start by introducing yourself
Oddly, I got to where I am by noticing what I was doing, instead of what I was saying I wanted to do. While I’d left finance and had a life coaching practice with a positive psychology spin, a lot of my time was spent putting together events that would push the needle on social and racial justice issues.

When my best friend of 25 years and I decided that we needed to start doing some work together in this realm, we just leaned in to what we do best – talk – and launched our social justice podcast, Dear White Women. It’s led naturally into the book “Dear White Women: Let’s Get (Un)comfortable Talking About Racism” and the consulting and speaking work we’ve been doing ever since we hit the publish button on our show over two and a half years ago!

Alright, so let’s dig a little deeper into the story – has it been an easy path overall and if not, what were the challenges you’ve had to overcome?
One of the biggest struggles was the reckoning I had to have about my own identity. In the back of my head, I thought, is it okay for me to be doing this work as a biracial woman?!

The first half of my life, growing up under my Japanese immigrant mother’s roof in metropolitan areas, was spent identifying largely with my Asian identity.

The second half of my life, married to a white Canadian man with white-presenting kids in largely white states, was spent identifying largely with my white identity.

It was when the shootings in Atlanta prompted a friend to call and ask me how I was doing- identifying me as Asian, that I felt my whole self, complete with all aspects of my identity, come together. I am both Japanese and White. I understand what it’s like to bridge cultural gaps, to seek belonging, and to want people to respect me as a person and not as a caricature of my various identities.

I leaned into this whole identity as a biracial person, and feel so much more grounded in the work we do.

As you know, we’re big fans of you and your work. For our readers who might not be as familiar what can you tell them about what you do?
I’m a facilitator, podcaster, author, life coach, and mother who specializes in bringing uncomfortable yet important conversations to the table. I aim to be heart-led in the work that I do, to recognize our collective humanity and help move the needle to make our society a little bit better for ourselves – and the next generation.

Let’s talk about our city – what do you love? What do you not love?
Denver feels like fertile ground to me. It’s a small enough big city that I sense support for creative ideas, a web of connection with many of us knowing friends of friends and a desire for community. That being said, the disparities and violence we read about every day leave me hoping for more systemic change to support our most vulnerable populations.

Pricing:

• $17.95 for the Dear White Women book!

Contact Info:

• Website: www.dearwhitewomen.com
• Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/dearwhitewomenpodcast/
• Twitter: https://twitter.com/dwwpodcast

Image Credits
Pamela Li