Our True Colors: Mixed Race Voices and Other Stories of Belonging
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 The Culture Crucible, Dr. Gann’s practice dedicated to building stronger, more inclusive workplace cultures. Learn more and connect at www.culturecrucible.com
Episodes
What a joy to spend time with our guest for this episode. Melissa Muganzo is an entertainer, entrepreneur, educator, and media producer based in Sacramento, California. She's a professor at Sacramento State, the founder of Mindy's Kitchen, a professional actress, and an award-winning entrepreneur and social justice documentarian. She was also raised inside a very particular kind of not-enoughness: not West Indian en...
In this episode, Shawna and Andre get into what he calls anti-mixed violence and how it gets folded into other categories. They talk about conditional acceptance, the pressure to perform blackness, and the difference between being a guest at the cookout and holding the umbrella. Andre describes what race looked like inside a racially segregated prison yard, where he ran raffles with Scrabble tiles and sold cheesecak...
Dr. Shawna Gann and her co-host, Marcel De Jonghe, sit down with Dr. Natalie Hart — speaker, consultant, and educator — for a warm, funny, and honest talk about growing up between cultures. Identifying as Afro-Latina and Latin Caribbean, Natalie shares how she moved past the pressure to prove she's "enough" for every community and learned to carry her full identity with confidence.
In this episode:
What does it mean to reconnect with your ancestry when the journey doesn't come with a roadmap? In this episode of *Our True Colors*, Dr. Shawna Gann sits down with storyteller, community organizer, and anti oppression facilitator Jamison Schulz-Franco for a thoughtful conversation about identity, belonging, and the courage to remain curious. Together, they explore what it means to hold multiple cultural identities,...
What does it mean to have civil courage? And what happens when you refuse to forget?
In this special episode, Shawna talks with her friend of 35 years, Professor Dr. Mirjam Rein, about an extraordinary project that began with a simple classroom conversation. Students from HTL Mössingerstraße, a technical school in Klagenfurt, Carinthia in the south of Austria, spent months interviewing seven people whose stories embo...
In this episode of Our True Colors, Dr. Shawna Gann and Season 6 cohost Marcel DeJonghe sit down with Teressa Plammoottil, a first generation Indian American whose story explores identity, racial ambiguity, religion, family dynamics, and the complicated search for community. Raised in a traditional South Indian Catholic household and shaped by both life in India and the United States, Teressa reflects on the experie...
Five years after his first appearance on the show, Joshua Grant returns for a deeply layered conversation with Dr. Shawna Gann about transitional justice, systemic inequity, activism, media manipulation, and what it means to be human in a time of fractured realities. Together, they unpack how movements born in moments of collective trauma continue shaping communities today, from Minneapolis organizing efforts after ...
What does it mean to live in between?
In this episode of Our True Colors, Dr. Shawna Gann sits down with scholar and thought leader Dr. Marc Johnston-Guerrero for a powerful conversation about liminal identity, multiracial experiences, and the systems that shape how we are seen and understood. From his personal journey navigating identity through something as intimate as his name, to his groundbreaking work defining ...
What if something as simple as vitamin D could unlock deeper conversations about health equity, research gaps, and advocacy? In this powerful episode, Dr. Shawna Gann and Season 6 cohost, Marcel DeJonghe, are joined by Lauryn Walker, a patient recruitment associate in clinical research, who is passionate about translating science into real world impact. Together, they explore the link between vitamin D deficiency an...
What does it really mean to belong when your identity doesn’t fit neatly into one box?
In this powerful and deeply human conversation, Dr. Shawna Gann and cohost, Marcel DeJonghe, chat with somatic psychotherapist, coach, and educator Raina LaGrand to explore the layered realities of mixed race identity. Together, they unpack the tension between fitting in and truly belonging, the emotional weight of code switc...
Content note: This episode includes strong language and explores childhood abuse, sexual abuse, and the lasting impact of trauma on identity and self worth.
In this powerful and layered conversation, Dr. Shawna Gann and co-host, Marcel De Jonghe sit down with Tara Moore, intuitive coach, empath, energy healer, host of the Rooted & Rising podcast, and founder of Soul’d Spaces. Together, they explore ...
In this episode of Our True Colors, Dr. Shawna Gann sits down with returning guest Ashnie Butler for a rich conversation about identity, belonging, and the power of asking better questions. Together with Marcel De Jonghe, they explore what happens when curiosity crosses the line into assumption, why certain questions about race and ethnicity can feel intrusive, and how mindful inquiry can help us communicate with mo...
Dr. Shawna Gann travels from Washington, DC to UCLA for the 2026 Critical Mixed Race Studies Association (CMRSA) Conference, themed Critical Healing. Before the first keynote, a grounding experience at the Fowler Museum’s Fire and Kinship exhibit reframes the weekend through an unexpected through line: fire as renewal, not destruction.
Across two workshops (Resonant Voices and Fault Lines and Bridges) and hallw...
What would people assume about you if they could only hear your voice? In this expansive and thought provoking episode, Dr. Shawna Gann and Marcel sit down with global cultural commentator Joy DuVivre to explore identity across borders, histories and lived experience.
Born in Romania to a Romanian Romani mother and an Angolan father, and raised primarily in Angola, Joy brings a deeply layered perspective shap...
Host Dr. Shawna Gann and co-host Marcel welcome their first guest of the season in this powerful conversation of Our True Colors. They are joined by the founder of Lonewolf District Ali Blair Caplan, known as "AB". In this discussion, they explore what it means to live between identities and still claim a sense of belonging. AB shares her lived experience as a biracial Black and white woman adopted into an all-...
Season 6 is here—and we’re starting with a Meet the Co-Host episode. Shawna welcomes back Marcel De Jonghe (joining from Birmingham, UK) for a warm, funny, and deeply reflective conversation about what it means to live in complexity. Marcel shares why being mixed isn’t a neat “half-and-half” story. It’s more like ingredients baked into something entirely new. Together, Shawna and ...
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 st...
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 t...
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, vuln...
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...
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