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Welcome to Our True Colors. This brief introduction gives you the full picture of what the show is about, who I am, and what you can expect in every season.

In this episode, you’ll learn:

• Why I started this podcast and what “racial riddle, ethnic enigma, and cultural conundrum” really mean.
• How different co-hosts join me each season — and why that rotating perspective matters.
• The kinds of stories you’ll hear, from families, professionals, and my own lived experience.
• Why belonging is at the heart of every conversation.

👉 Want to connect?

Look for the link above to send me a direct message or let's connect online! You can find the links right here in the show notes.

Welcome to the community!

If this is your first time with OTC, check out EPISODE 1: START HERE for more background on the show. Don't forget to follow us on Instagram!

Interested in being a guest? Head to this link to share your story with us!

Our True Colors is powered by True Culture Coaching & Consulting. Head to our website to find out how True Culture Coaching and Consulting can support you and your organization, and subscribe to our LinkedIn Newsletter, The Culture Clinic, for more great content.

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If you’re new here, this short trailer will give you a taste of Our True Colors. You’ll hear how the show explores identity, belonging, and life in the in-between spaces.

Subscribe now and then check out the full Start Here episode for a deeper dive into what we’re about.

If this is your first time with OTC, check out EPISODE 1: START HERE for more background on the show. Don't forget to follow us on Instagram!

Interested in being a guest? Head to this link to share your story with us!

Our True Colors is powered by True Culture Coaching & Consulting. Head to our website to find out how True Culture Coaching and Consulting can support you and your organization, and subscribe to our LinkedIn Newsletter, The Culture Clinic, for more great content.

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For the first time, I’m joined by my full family—my husband Chad and our kids, Christian and Ariana—in a double-length finale to close out Season 5 of Our True Colors.

We get into it all:

• Identity, hair, and insecurities
• What people assume about us as a couple
• Family culture, music, and travel
• How our kids make sense of their biracial identity
• What it really means to belong

It’s funny, vulnerable, unscripted—and filled with moments we’ve never shared, even with each other.

Let's stay in touch!

• Shawna on LinkedIn
• True Culture on LinkedIn
• The Culture Clinic Newsletter
• True Culture Coaching and Consulting
• Our True Colors on Instagram
• Season 5 Episodes on YouTube
• Contact Me Directly

Stuff to Explore and Learn More About:

• Our True Colors "Start Here" episode
• W.E.B. Du Bois & Double Consciousness
• J.D. Vance...calls Kamala Harris a chameleon

Previous Episodes with Christian Gann/Aimee Amour:

• Intersecting Communities: BLM and Pride
• Hey, Queen! Talking Racial Ambiguity with Christian Gann and Aimee Amour
• Follow Aimee Amour on Instagram and TikTok
• Check out this special edition Culture Clinic featuring Christian and Aimee

If this is your first time with OTC, check out EPISODE 1: START HERE for more background on the show. Don't forget to follow us on Instagram!

Interested in being a guest? Head to this link to share your story with us!

Our True Colors is powered by True Culture Coaching & Consulting. Head to our website to find out how True Culture Coaching and Consulting can support you and your organization, and subscribe to our LinkedIn Newsletter, The Culture Clinic, for more great content.

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In this rich and vulnerable episode, Dr. Shawna Gann welcomes Belgian-French author, historian, and researcher Victoria Kabeya to discuss the complexities of multigenerationally mixed identity. From the trauma of slavery to the politics of racial categorization, Victoria shares personal stories, global insights, and the intellectual foundations behind her groundbreaking books. Together, they explore what it means to be Multi-Generationally Mixed—not just biologically, but culturally, historically, and emotionally.

Stuff to Check Out:

• Matriarch by Tina Knowles 
• Mixing: A History of Anti-Miscegenation Laws in the U.S.
• Free People of Color in Colonial Louisiana 
• BET: A ‘Love & Hip Hop’ Star’s Blackness Is Being Questioned
• NPR: For Some People of Appalachia, Complicated Roots
• The Melungeons
• YouTube: Understanding the Melungeons
• Arab Center DC: The Colonial Legacy in the Arab World
• NPR Code Switch: Why Rachel Dolezal Can Never Be Black
• HowStuffWorks: When Irish Immigrants Weren’t Considered White
• YouTube: The Asian Man Who Wanted to be White 

If this is your first time with OTC, check out EPISODE 1: START HERE for more background on the show. Don't forget to follow us on Instagram!

Interested in being a guest? Head to this link to share your story with us!

Our True Colors is powered by True Culture Coaching & Consulting. Head to our website to find out how True Culture Coaching and Consulting can support you and your organization, and subscribe to our LinkedIn Newsletter, The Culture Clinic, for more great content.

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This week, Dr. Shawna Gann—joined by her co-host Kat—welcomes Dr. Geoffrey Greif and Victoria Stubbs, LCSW-C, for a thoughtful and timely conversation about interracial and interethnic relationships, raising mixed-race children, and navigating identity across lines of race, culture, and experience.

The discussion is rooted in research and real-world insight from their forthcoming book When Family Relations Are Race Relations, and it touches on how societal events press into private life, how couples process racial identity differently, and how families work through tension, silence, and love in the face of cultural difference.

The episode was inspired by a moment of curiosity: Special thanks to Neal Augenstein, reporter at WTOP, whose segment sparked this episode.

And while Loving Day itself isn’t the focus of the conversation, the timing of this episode’s release—just ahead of June 12—makes it a powerful moment to reflect. In the intro, Dr. Gann shares a bit of history about the Loving v. Virginia decision, the legacy of Mildred and Richard Loving, and what “Virginia is for Lovers” means to her personally as someone in an interracial family.

🔗 Resources & Mentions

💛 Loving Day & Reflection

• “Remember. Reflect. Celebrate. Loving Day.” – Dr. Gann on LinkedIn
• Virginia is for Lovers – About the slogan

🎥 Pop Culture Mentions

• Cheerios Ad Featuring a Mixed-Race Family (YouTube)
• Today Show Article – Cheerios Ad Backlash
• A Simple Favor – Film Mentioned
• The Wicked Wiz of Oz: The Rusical – RuPaul’s Drag Race (YouTube)

If this is your first time with OTC, check out EPISODE 1: START HERE for more background on the show. Don't forget to follow us on Instagram!

Interested in being a guest? Head to this link to share your story with us!

Our True Colors is powered by True Culture Coaching & Consulting. Head to our website to find out how True Culture Coaching and Consulting can support you and your organization, and subscribe to our LinkedIn Newsletter, The Culture Clinic, for more great content.

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In this episode of Our True Colors, Shawna is joined by co-host Rachel Sadler and special guest Ian Gibbs-Hall—a DEI advocate, thought leader, and creator of Curiosity Architecture. With over a decade of experience creating inclusive environments, Ian offers a fresh framework that invites us to move beyond checkboxes and binaries and into deeper, more curious ways of seeing one another.

Together, they explore identity, belonging, masculinity, and the limitations of social categories—highlighting how “other” doesn’t just mean different, but often means left out. From coloring books to Frozen 2, neoliberalism to Mr. Clean, this conversation is as layered as it is enlightening.

And yes—you’ll want to check out the video version for the moment Ian reacts to Shawna revealing she used to work at Blockbuster Video.

✉️ Want to submit a question for the final episode? Use the message feature above to send a text.

📚 Referenced Resources & Links

• The Ethics of Identity by Kwame Anthony Appiah: Buy the book | Watch a video about his work
• Commentary on the Mr. Clean Commercial (yes, that one): Watch it here
• What’s a “Soy Boy” anyway? Read more on the term and its cultural baggage

🎧 Related OTC Episodes

• CJ Gross on Navigating Identity & Nuance
• Londell Jackson on Masculinity & Belonging

If this is your first time with OTC, check out EPISODE 1: START HERE for more background on the show. Don't forget to follow us on Instagram!

Interested in being a guest? Head to this link to share your story with us!

Our True Colors is powered by True Culture Coaching & Consulting. Head to our website to find out how True Culture Coaching and Consulting can support you and your organization, and subscribe to our LinkedIn Newsletter, The Culture Clinic, for more great content.

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In this powerful episode of Our True Colors, Dr. Shawna Gann is joined by Cindy Ogasawara and Kara De Maine, leaders in the Resounding Love Interfaith Gospel Choir—a multiracial, interfaith, LGBTQ+ embracing choir grounded in African American musical traditions and active anti-racism practice.

Together, they explore:

• The complexities of racial identity, especially for those with mixed or ambiguous backgrounds
• What it means to be part of a community that doesn’t just sing together—but heals together
• How they’ve created a choir that holds joy and accountability side by side
• The connection between leadership, cultural humility, and inclusion

You’ll also hear how Resounding Love continues to hold space for marginalized voices in a time when Pride celebrations are shrinking and DEI efforts are under attack.

🎶 All of the music featured in this episode is performed by Resounding Love Interfaith Gospel Choir.

More Stuff to Check Out:

• These Words are Disappearing in the New Trump Administration
• From Free Speech to Fear Speech: When Language Becomes a Liability
• Sinners (2025) – A dramatic film that weaves blues and gospel influences into a story of justice, family, and faith.
• Resounding Love Songs Featured in this Episode:
  • Spiritual Medley
  • Waymaker
  • It is Well
  • Wonderful Is Your Name
  • How Excellent

If this is your first time with OTC, check out EPISODE 1: START HERE for more background on the show. Don't forget to follow us on Instagram!

Interested in being a guest? Head to this link to share your story with us!

Our True Colors is powered by True Culture Coaching & Consulting. Head to our website to find out how True Culture Coaching and Consulting can support you and your organization, and subscribe to our LinkedIn Newsletter, The Culture Clinic, for more great content.

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In this episode of Our True Colors, Dr. Shawna Gann is joined by Hallie Pritchett — a public health leader, facilitator, and equity strategist — for a deeply personal and wide-ranging conversation about identity, belonging, and the challenges of showing up fully at work. Hallie reflects on growing up mixed-race in the Pacific Northwest, parenting a child who's already navigating complex identity questions, and how her lived experience has shaped her approach to leadership and equity in health systems.

Together, Shawna and Hallie explore:

• The social landscape of race in the Pacific Northwest
• Raising children who present racially differently from their parents
• Bridging across difference in mission-driven workspaces
• How assumptions about identity can lead to workplace missteps
• What it takes to create truly inclusive and psychologically safe environments
• The emotional complexity of DEI fatigue and boundary-setting
• Adult learning theory, code-switching, and why language still matters

Resources & Mentions:

• Jodi-Ann Burey & Ruchika Tulshyan’s article: Stop Telling Black Women They Have Imposter Syndrome (HBR)
• The 5 S's of Engagement: Navigating Your Path Through Allyship

Follow Hallie on LinkedIn:
https://www.linkedin.com/in/hallie-pritchett/

More from Shawna:

• Visit: https://www.truecultureconsulting.com
• Follow Our True Colors on Instagram
• Subscribe to The Culture Clinic via True Culture Coaching & Consulting on LinkedIn

If this is your first time with OTC, check out EPISODE 1: START HERE for more background on the show. Don't forget to follow us on Instagram!

Interested in being a guest? Head to this link to share your story with us!

Our True Colors is powered by True Culture Coaching & Consulting. Head to our website to find out how True Culture Coaching and Consulting can support you and your organization, and subscribe to our LinkedIn Newsletter, The Culture Clinic, for more great content.

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In this episode, Shawna sits down with Londell Jackson—educator, strategist, and author of Between the Opposites—for a powerful conversation about the complexities of identity. From growing up mixed-race in Denver to navigating masculinity as a same-gender-loving Black and Latino man, Londell shares his deeply personal journey of self-discovery, cultural belonging, and emotional growth. Together, they explore themes like authenticity, inherited narratives, and the courage it takes to confront our “shadow self.”

Topics Covered:

• Growing up multiracial and feeling “not enough” for any one group
• Redefining masculinity beyond social expectations
• Why curiosity, empathy, and vulnerability are keys to connection
• The lenses we inherit vs. the ones we choose
• How identity journeys evolve across our lifetime

Resources Mentioned:

• Between the Opposites by Londell Jackson
• Carl Jung’s concept of the Shadow Self 
• NeverEnding Story: Atreyu’s Mirror Scene

If this is your first time with OTC, check out EPISODE 1: START HERE for more background on the show. Don't forget to follow us on Instagram!

Interested in being a guest? Head to this link to share your story with us!

Our True Colors is powered by True Culture Coaching & Consulting. Head to our website to find out how True Culture Coaching and Consulting can support you and your organization, and subscribe to our LinkedIn Newsletter, The Culture Clinic, for more great content.

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In this rich and candid episode of Our True Colors, Shawna is joined by Rachel, returning co-host and fellow deep thinker and wonderful guest Annemarie Shrouder, international speaker, facilitator, and bestselling author of Being Brown in a Black and White World.

Together, they explore what it means to hold a “both/and” identity—especially as mixed-race or multiracial individuals navigating a world obsessed with binaries. Annemarie shares the powerful story behind her personal “aha” moment, the birth of the both/and framework, and the bridge-building superpower that comes with embracing complexity. They also talk about parenting multiracial children, code-switching across cultures, internalized shame, and the liberating work of self-acceptance.

We laugh, reflect, and get real about everything from childhood perms to generational healing, from the politics of hair to the power of poetry—and yes, even resting as resistance.

Topics include:

• The emotional journey of embracing multiracial identity
• Both/and as a tool for belonging and bridge-building
• Raising confident, culturally rooted children
• What happens when whiteness is the assumed default
• Why identity is a lifelong journey, not a one-time decision

Mentioned in this episode:

• Imagined Communities:
  Reflections on the Origin and Spread of Nationalism
• SPECIAL EPISODE: The Little Mermaid of Color
• When Black Girls Watch “Wicked,” It Hits Differently
• Wicked’s Elphaba Has Always Been Black. Cynthia Erivo’s Stunning Performance Cements It
• JK Rowling tells of anger at attacks on casting of black Hermione
• Who is Black?
• ‘One-drop rule’ persists
• The Hummingbird Parable: What We Can Do For Earth

If this is your first time with OTC, check out EPISODE 1: START HERE for more background on the show. Don't forget to follow us on Instagram!

Interested in being a guest? Head to this link to share your story with us!

Our True Colors is powered by True Culture Coaching & Consulting. Head to our website to find out how True Culture Coaching and Consulting can support you and your organization, and subscribe to our LinkedIn Newsletter, The Culture Clinic, for more great content.