Our True Colors: Mixed Race Voices and Other Stories of Belonging

Dr. Shawna Gann
  • 5.0 (22)
  • SOCIETY & CULTURE

Our True Colors is a podcast about identity, belonging, and life in the in-between. We explore what it means to be mixed race, multiracial, multicultural, racially ambiguous — or to grow up across cultures, through adoption, or in any space where identity doesn’t fit neatly into a box.What’s it like to feel like you fit everywhere yet belong nowhere, all at the same time? If you or someone you love has ever been called a racial riddle, an ethnic enigma, or a cultural conundrum, this show is for you.Each season, host Dr. Shawna Gann — a business psychologist and storyteller — is joined by a new co-host who brings their own lens. Together with guests, they share candid conversations, family stories, and professional insights that remind us we don’t clock in and out of our identities.At its heart, Our True Colors is about connection: creating a space where mixed, multicultural, and cross-cultural voices can be heard, where belonging is explored, and where “otherness” becomes something powerful to claim.Our True Colors is an extension of True Culture Coaching & Consulting, Dr. Gann’s practice dedicated to building stronger, more inclusive workplace cultures. Learn more and connect at www.truecultureconsulting.com

  1. 12/23/2025

    Season 6 is Coming Soon!

    MESSAGE ME HERE! 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.

    1 min
  2. START HERE: Learn About Our True Colors

    09/12/2025

    START HERE: Learn About Our True Colors

    MESSAGE ME HERE! 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.

    10 min
  3. Our True Colors - The Trailer

    09/01/2025

    Our True Colors - The Trailer

    MESSAGE ME HERE! 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.

    1 min
  4. Double Feature Season 5 Finale: Our True Colors at Home

    07/09/2025

    Double Feature Season 5 Finale: Our True Colors at Home

    MESSAGE ME HERE! 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 insecuritiesWhat people assume about us as a coupleFamily culture, music, and travelHow our kids make sense of their biracial identityWhat it really means to belongIt’s funny, vulnerable, unscripted—and filled with moments we’ve never shared, even with each other. Let's stay in touch! Shawna on LinkedInTrue Culture on LinkedInThe Culture Clinic NewsletterTrue Culture Coaching and ConsultingOur True Colors on InstagramSeason 5 Episodes on YouTubeContact Me DirectlyStuff to Explore and Learn More About: Our True Colors "Start Here" episodeW.E.B. Du Bois & Double ConsciousnessJ.D. Vance...calls Kamala Harris a chameleonPrevious Episodes with Christian Gann/Aimee Amour: Intersecting Communities: BLM and PrideHey, Queen! Talking Racial Ambiguity with Christian Gann and Aimee AmourFollow Aimee Amour on Instagram and TikTokCheck out this special edition Culture Clinic featuring Christian and AimeeIf 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.

    1h 15m
  5. Bloodlines and Borders: Tracing the Truth of Mixed Ancestry with Victoria Kabeya

    06/17/2025

    Bloodlines and Borders: Tracing the Truth of Mixed Ancestry with Victoria Kabeya

    MESSAGE ME HERE! 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 QuestionedNPR: For Some People of Appalachia, Complicated RootsThe MelungeonsYouTube: Understanding the MelungeonsArab Center DC: The Colonial Legacy in the Arab WorldNPR Code Switch: Why Rachel Dolezal Can Never Be BlackHowStuffWorks: When Irish Immigrants Weren’t Considered WhiteYouTube: 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.

    46 min
  6. Conversations in Color: From Research to Real Life

    06/10/2025

    Conversations in Color: From Research to Real Life

    MESSAGE ME HERE! 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 LinkedInVirginia is for Lovers – About the slogan🎥 Pop Culture Mentions Cheerios Ad Featuring a Mixed-Race Family (YouTube)Today Show Article – Cheerios Ad BacklashA Simple Favor – Film MentionedThe 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.

    59 min
  7. Ian Gibbs-Hall on Curiosity Architecture and Rethinking Identity

    06/03/2025

    Ian Gibbs-Hall on Curiosity Architecture and Rethinking Identity

    MESSAGE ME HERE! 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 workCommentary on the Mr. Clean Commercial (yes, that one): Watch it hereWhat’s a “Soy Boy” anyway? Read more on the term and its cultural baggage🎧 Related OTC Episodes CJ Gross on Navigating Identity & NuanceLondell Jackson on Masculinity & BelongingIf 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.

    47 min
  8. Belonging by Design: How a Choir Became a Home

    05/27/2025

    Belonging by Design: How a Choir Became a Home

    MESSAGE ME HERE! 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 backgroundsWhat it means to be part of a community that doesn’t just sing together—but heals togetherHow they’ve created a choir that holds joy and accountability side by sideThe connection between leadership, cultural humility, and inclusionYou’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 AdministrationFrom Free Speech to Fear Speech: When Language Becomes a LiabilitySinners (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 MedleyWaymakerIt is WellWonderful Is Your NameHow ExcellentIf 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.

    54 min
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5
out of 5
22 Ratings

About

Our True Colors is a podcast about identity, belonging, and life in the in-between. We explore what it means to be mixed race, multiracial, multicultural, racially ambiguous — or to grow up across cultures, through adoption, or in any space where identity doesn’t fit neatly into a box.What’s it like to feel like you fit everywhere yet belong nowhere, all at the same time? If you or someone you love has ever been called a racial riddle, an ethnic enigma, or a cultural conundrum, this show is for you.Each season, host Dr. Shawna Gann — a business psychologist and storyteller — is joined by a new co-host who brings their own lens. Together with guests, they share candid conversations, family stories, and professional insights that remind us we don’t clock in and out of our identities.At its heart, Our True Colors is about connection: creating a space where mixed, multicultural, and cross-cultural voices can be heard, where belonging is explored, and where “otherness” becomes something powerful to claim.Our True Colors is an extension of True Culture Coaching & Consulting, Dr. Gann’s practice dedicated to building stronger, more inclusive workplace cultures. Learn more and connect at www.truecultureconsulting.com

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