Everything You Need to Know About Your Own Racism with Saira Rao

Episode Summary

Although not everyone is able to digest radical honesty about racism, Saira Rao is here to talk about it in a courageous and raw way. In this episode, Chantal and Saira talk about racism and how white supremacy and saviorism are still a massive problem in a world where everyone is more racist than they would like to admit. They also talk about how Saira makes this situation visible through projects like her movie, Deconstructing Karen, her book, White Women: Everything You Already Know About Your Own Racism and How to Do Better and the discussion space Race To Dinner.

About Our Guest

Saira Rao is a co-founder and Creative Director of In This Together Media, a book packaging company of children’s fiction with greater diversity in terms of gender, race, sexual orientation, and experience. She is the author of Chambermaid (Grove Press) and The Madlands (forthcoming). Previously, Saira was a television news producer in Washington D.C., and Miami; a policy associate at the Center for Educational Innovation at The Manhattan Institute; a law clerk on the United States Court of Appeals for the Third Circuit; and a lawyer at Cleary Gottlieb Steen & Hamilton LLP in New York City. Saira is a graduate of the University of Virginia and the New York University School of Law.

Saira Rao (Democratic Party) ran for election to the U.S. House to represent Colorado’s 1st Congressional District. She lost in the Democratic primary on June 26, 2018. She launched a movie named Deconstructing Karen at the same time she launched with Regina Jackson “White Women: Everything You Already Know About Your Own Racism and How to Do Better”. Saira co-founds Race To Dinner with Regina Jackson which is a space to discuss with radical honesty different topics that are not talked about enough in this patriarchal and racist society.

Insights from this episode:

—Saira’s journey to being a self-constructed best seller author
—Difficulties in achieving profit with Race To Dinner
—Dealing with the reviews of Saira’s book “White Women: Everything You Already Know About Your Own Racism and How to Do Better”
—Applying for a job as a woman of color
—Positive white identity
—How can black women be in a community with non-black women
—White saviorism
—Saira’s son and how he experiences racism in school
—Black women in the technology industry
—White supremacy as the status quo
—Community building between white women
—What is next in Saira’s professional life

Quotes from the show:

“[About the book] This is deprogramming and it’s painful, at first it is really painful, it’s confusing” —Saira Rao, Emerging Women Podcast.

“[About work situations where women of color are left aside] We’ve intentionally interviewed a bunch of black, indigenous, latina, and asian women in different professions to show it doesn’t matter if you’re a latina woman in Seattle or a black woman in Florida, it’s the same” —Saira Rao, Emerging Women Podcast.

“In order for us to do community, we need to stand strong in our claiming of our identity, whatever that means to us and that also means unraveling what we’ve been socialized to believe who we are” —Chantal Pierrat, Emerging Women Podcast.

“There is no perfection without white skin so I don’t have a chance, Regina [Jackson] doesn’t have a chance, so white skin is a necessary but insufficient component of perfectionism” —Saira Rao, Emerging Women Podcast.

“If you all are competing with each other to be the thinnest, the prettiest, have the best hair, have the best looking husbands, have the smartest best looking children, have the best homes, how can you be in community with each other? ” —Saira Rao, Emerging Women Podcast.

Stay connected:

Saira Rao:
Twitter: Saira Rao
LinkedIn: Saira Rao
Instagram: Saira Rao

Chantal Pierrat
Twitter: @chantalpierrat
LinkedIn: Chantal Pierrat

Emerging Women
Website: https://emergingwomen.com/
Twitter: @emergingW
Facebook: @EmergingWomen
Instagram: @emergingW
LinkedIn: Emerging Women
Youtube: Emerging Women

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Chelsea Brookshire

Chelsea Brookshire

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Chelsea has over 15 years of experience in administrative and executive support. After her years of working in the legal and oil and gas industry, Chelsea has made it her passion to fill her life with creativity and incorporates that into everything she does. Her position at Emerging Women allows her to expand on that creativity and assist with empowering women around the world. She is a native of Colorado and enjoys spending time with her husband, her son, bonus son, family, and friends. In her free time she loves camping, painting, and all things creative.

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Jen was born in Lima, Peru but has spent most of her life in Colorado. In 2016, a year sabbatical morphed into a life living abroad. Jen has been living in Cusco, Peru for the past four years and cherishes her life in the Andes mountains. In her spare time she enjoys exploring the world, playing capoeira, and deepening her yoga and meditation practices.

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For over 13 years, Nicole has been a producer and connector in the field of personal and professional growth and transformation, creating diverse content, life-changing curriculum, and exquisite live and online experiences. She loves to unite and facilitate people in their work to live more good, true, and beautiful lives. She’s honored to bring this diverse expertise to Emerging Women. For the past two years she has been the lead producer for Emerging Women Live, and now is bringing her extensive production, coaching and facilitation skills to EW’s Power Circles. Nicole works in private practice as a Certified Integral Master Coach™, through her company, Unabashedly You, and has worked with hundreds of women (and men) individually and as a group facilitator. She also creates programs and interviews fascinating teachers and wellness experts in her role as U.S. Content Producer for Conscious Life. She is the co-founder of Core Integral, an educational company offering a comprehensive and accessible approach to learning integral theory. Prior to this work, she owned a large and lively restaurant and brewery in Pennsylvania. She has studied extensively and worked alongside Ken Wilber (Integral Theory), Daniel Brown, PhD (Tibetan Buddhism, Self-Development, Attachment, and Positive Psychology), and Sofia Diaz (Hatha Yoga and Feminine Embodiment). She holds a Masters Degree from Lehigh University. She regularly delights in the sunshine and mountains of Colorado with her two dogs and her partner Clint, and is a new mama to her daughter Truly Golden.

Chantal Pierrat

Chantal Pierrat

Founder & CEO

Chantal’s mission is to increase women’s leadership across the globe. After earning an MBA from the University of Colorado, Chantal left a career in medical device manufacturing in search of work that would align her dedication to transformative leadership with her passion for living an inspired, impactful life. In September 2012, she founded Emerging Women, a global leadership and media platform that serves over 70,000 women worldwide and has advanced women’s leadership within Fortune 500 companies such as HP, Oracle and more. Chantal’s ultimate vision is to weave feminine leadership and authenticity into businesses, and to create a world where women have a strong voice in the shaping of our future. Prior to Emerging Women, for over a decade, Chantal served on the executive team as the VP of Sales and Marketing for Sounds True, a multimedia publishing company focused on spirituality, personal growth, and holistic living. Chantal is a sought after speaker delivering keynotes at The Grace Hopper Celebration, Wisdom 2.0, and many other stages where women’s leadership is critical to the conversation. When she is not dancing or working to empower women around the world, Chantal enjoys family time with her husband and two sons in Boulder, CO.