Analiza: Welcome to the Women of Color Rise Podcast. I'm Analiza Quiroz Wolf, proud Filipina American mom of two, and former CEO of a nonprofit and Captain in the US Air Force. I'm on a mission to support having more diverse leaders at the table. We'll be talking with successful CEOs and C suite women leaders of color and learning about their leadership journeys. If you're a woman or woman of color, who wants a seat at the table, you're in the right place. Now let's get into today's show.

I'm thrilled to be talking with Sarah White today. She's in Oglala, Dakota and the founder and executive director of the South Dakota education equity coalition. She's worked in many roles, but particularly the role in the title six Indian education programs at the Rapid City Area Schools in South Dakota and at Omaha Public Schools in Omaha. She has this background coming into this role at the SDEC her education background as a bachelor's from the University of Nebraska Lincoln, a master's of education from Creighton University, PK 12 administrator endorsement from the University of South Dakota. All of this is to say that she's very passionate about advocating for Indigenous education. And it's really important to elevate the urgent narrative that indigenous education should be done through the lens of community. She's all about cohesive and collaborative efforts. And all of this is not second, but in parallel. And maybe more important, because Sarah is a mom to four sons. So thank you so much, Sarah, for being here. I'm excited to learn more about you.

Sarah: Thanks so much. Analiza. I'm so excited to be here as well.

Analiza: Sarah, let's talk about you and the work you do, but particularly, how did your young self, your identity help drive this? Did you know you would be working in Indigenous education that you'd want to be at the helm of an organization like yours?

Sarah 2:19 Oh, my goodness. That's a great question. Actually, no, I embarked on my post secondary journey with aspirations in the field of dental hygiene. And that's exactly why I chose to attend school in Nebraska. And then when I got to UNL, I was in spaces where I was actually faced with the reality that off the reservation, because my primary experience was on the Pine Ridge Indian Reservation, where I'm from. And then my post secondary experience was in Lincoln, Nebraska, I found myself advocating and challenging the stereotypes and expressions that were held in those spaces. And then realize that my calling for advocacy became more apparent the deeper I got into my humanities courses. Like I always operate in the spirit of when creator opens the door, I'm gonna walk through it. And so those doors were wide open. And I kept thinking, okay, so Sarah has a plan. But creator has a much bigger plan for me. And so here I am, fast forward, there were a couple of mentors and advocates along the way. But I'm here in that spirit of true advocacy, and elevating otherwise, absent narratives. That's my passion.

Analiza: Sarah, the story that you just shared, where you had a dream of being a dental hygienist, and then learned that in your heart, you want to be an advocate for your people's education? Can I just draw a bigger lens on that, because it's such an inspiring path. And yet, there are real statistics from especially when we talk about Pine Ridge, where that's not from my understanding the norm. And so can you share? How did you do that? How did you Sarah with your family with whatever influence you had, you mentioned, mentors and people who had supported but can you just share that? Because often we don't have a light on like, Wow, can we have more Sarah Whites in the world? That's so beautiful.

Sarah: Well, actually, I really feel very fortunate in my life to have been brought up so deep in spiritual grounding. And so I learned spirituality from my parents, and most notably, my grandparents. My paternal grandmother was such a devout woman as well as my maternal grandfather. And so learning from them, that creator comes first, God comes first, my relationship with the higher power is at the center of everything I do. And so following that, I'm also very fortunate in the fact that I have had a really solid support system and education was a strong value held by a lot of my family. And so with that in mind, I'm what I call an expert hoopjumper education was not the most challenging arena for me. In fact, it was the interpersonal relationships that I encountered after high school off the reservation that I realized quickly was a greater challenge for me to navigate. And so as I was sitting in those spaces, trying to humanize the experience without exploiting our experiences back home, that's where I found power and reclamation and aspects of myself that I knew I needed to heal. And so I think that's where really, the power came.

And then as I became a mother, all of my sons aren't learners in the same way that I am. In fact, the education system has been really challenging to navigate for a couple of them. And I had an opportunity to then put my advocacy hat on as a mother. And so knowing with the background of education, that I have my rights as a parent within the system, knowing the rights that my children were entitled to in the system gave me the skill set needed to go into those spaces, because otherwise, I feel like parental voices often become the most disenfranchised. And so I think when I think about myself being an advocate, I often have to acknowledge the fact that being able to navigate the education system is a privilege that is not shared by everyone. And so my expert hoop jumping skills, afforded me opportunities, but then they also made me see how that skill set is not shared by everyone. And I wasn't until I was a mother, I was humbled with that realization, and that it became more clear to me like No, when an entire demographic is behind in an achievement gap, to the degree that we see it, it's not the demographics, responsibility to pull on their boots, it's the responsibility of the system to cater to the needs of those people in the groups of people that the system is failing. And that's where my passion comes in.

Analiza: Sarah, I hear you being a changemaker at so many levels. But let's make sure we acknowledge the beauty of being raised in an environment where God as creator was centered, and to have grandmothers on both sides be loving and supportive of you and their influence, we're going to talk more about them, then to have you realize that what you experienced in school and college, those stereotypes, were something that you wanted to get behind. And as an expert, hoopjumper, those skills not only served you and that serve you well now, but they served you in advocating for your poor boys. And so all of that is just raising the light on the system being the issue, not these individuals, and that you are unique. And that shouldn't be the case, to have to be an expert, hoopjumper just to give your boys what they deserve. So thank you for sharing that. I'm wondering, Sarah, let's go back to your grandmother's. And I'm curious because this idea of matriarchy and influence, how have they shaped even your life? Or how did they share life with you as you do this work?

Sarah: That's a great question. And it's a loaded question. But I think it's best iterated through a story about how I came to this realization very recently in my life. Although I knew that my grandma has had a profound impact on my life, my paternal grandma, especially because I had an opportunity to share my life's path with her until I was in the eighth grade. And then even my great grandmother, I had an opportunity to share life with her until I was in upper elementary school.

However, my maternal Grandma, I only know her posts humorously, but through various stories and interactions, I feel that her spirit is within me as well. But one really critical moment in my life was when I actually moved home, I moved back to South Dakota in 2017, with really high aspirations of serving in the local school district here and being able to impact the cook my community here locally. And in the first three months of my job, I was invited to attend this really great professional development opportunity that was held in Los Angeles, California. And the goal of the opportunity was to convene cross sector leadership and cross cultural leadership at the Museum of Tolerance. So it's a Holocaust Museum. And when I received the invitation, it was under the premise that we were going to convene to discuss race relations in our city. And initially, I was taken aback by the invitation because I'm like, Well, how ironic is this? We're going to discuss race relations and racial tension at a destination in California, when the heart of indigenous genocide happened right here in our backyard, like right on the reservation, where I grew up. And so initially, I was hesitant, but I obliged and then ended up becoming, the most profound opportunity to date.

So through that experience, we had the opportunity, the group of us, to navigate through the museum. And we learned about the Holocaust from the early days of propaganda all the way through the concentration camps. And then finally Liberation Day. So we went all through that. And as you can imagine, that was a really challenging experience to undergo to be hauled with this group of individuals. But then we got out, we went through the last piece, and really the Liberation Day struck me. So as I was sitting there listening to the survivor stories that were being recounted through audio and video recordings. One particular one spoke to me and it was this woman, and she said, I was 26 years old at the time of liberation. And at the time, I had a daughter who was six years old. And so when they announced over the speaker that we were liberated, I ran in search of her. And when I found her, she was sitting again, on this barbed wire fence, crying this horrible cry that I could still remember to this day. And she said, I did what any mother would have done, I went and I grabbed my baby, and I cried, the most liberating cry that I've ever had in my entire life. And we cried together. And when we couldn't cry anymore, we got up, we walked out, and we started our liberation. And it was such a beautiful, profound story.

But I realized that my grandmas are buried without having that true liberation day, because none of them spoke our traditional language. In fact, they denounced our spiritual ways, because they were made to believe that they were insignificant, they practiced a lot of the cultural aspects through their matriarchal skills and their love. But there were a lot of pieces of them that made them lucky that were buried with them, frankly.

And so it was that moment that I'm like, Oh, my goodness, like, my purpose is not only to restore what has been lost within myself, but to really provide an opportunity for others to have the safe space to do that, especially through the lens of education. And that's has changed my perspective that has been a catalyst to the trajectory of leadership and where I am today, because in fact, that inspired a fellowship application that I wrote, grounded and steeped in that healing, that eventually led me to do education reform work out of this system with a local nonprofit organization, and then finally led to the development and founding of that equity coalition where I am today. And it keeps pulling me back.

Because as we navigate the dismantling or uniting systems that disenfranchise our students, and convening the spaces for this to happen, we're finding that there is a need for healing, there is a need for community wellness, there is a need for all of that. And my work is being pulled back in there. So as I mentioned, when God opens that door, like I'm just continuously walking in, and as I walk in, and other doors open, and I know I'm where I need to be. And that's been the spirit. And I'm always like, the post human stars on my grandma's and reminding me over and over again.

And I'll share one more tangential story. When I spoke about the fellowship opportunity. I actually remember the day that I went in for my final round of interviews. And as I was sitting in the waiting room, the facilitator came out and started naming which room each of us would be in. And I remember being in my hotel room prior to that, just praying specifically to my grandma's like I'm here because of your sacrifices, please guide me and be with me today. So I get in that space. They're reading off the room, and they're like, Sarah, you're in the Edith room. That was my great grandma's name. So instantly, I'm like, Oh, they're here, you're here. Like I went in there with such confidence, knowing that no matter the outcome that they were with me and I was supposed to be there. And that's continuously how I operate.

Analiza: I'm just in awe about how we can be close to our ancestors and that they can be with us if we are able to step in and ask for help. And also trust that if this is the path we're meant to be, the doors will open. So much beauty there, Sarah, with that story, as well as this bigger idea that we can come together as a multi race from different sectors and heal together so that we can create something new to dismantle systems. So thank you so much for that Sarah.

I want to go into this idea of healing, healing and community wellness that yes, we want to build something new. Yes, we want to make things more just and to do this. There needs to be healing. There needs to be self care and community care. They need to happen together in parallel or maybe even first prioritize healing, first by wellness. And so can you talk about that for you? What has it meant for you to heal? And what are the parallels to that with how you're opening it up for others or helping guide others, support others with their journeys?

Sarah: I love this question because it reminds me of the consistent exposure to new BIPOC women of color who I've encountered along this journey. And there seems to be some similar themes within our conversation. And I think from my own personal experience, and maybe it's relatable, is that when I talk about being an expert jumper, I think that my response to coping with trauma has always been achievement, because I was seeking self worth and achievement. And so everything that I aspired to do felt like within my control, right? If I could do X, Y, and Z, that is x, A, B, and C, it's going to yield all of these things. And ultimately, we're the destination of z being wellness through all these achievements, and it's going to make me happy. And I found that the perception was I want prosperity for my community so much that I will offer so much of myself.

And ultimately, what I found at the pinnacle of success, like on the outward success on paper success was that I was the furthest from myself and for this from the creator when I was in that space. And then I quickly realized, like, the heart of that success is me, like, I need to come back to me and I need to find my own source and be close with that source. And so in coming back to that, I've been finding a lot more healing. And so that self care piece is critical.

Like I think about the moments where I'm under the most stress, like oftentimes, I'll skip meals or not drink enough water. And we overlook that as something minimal, but that's a literal survival skill. And I was denying myself survival. And so when I think about that, often in it, I feel like women overburden themselves with this more than men is that we will suffer and martyr ourselves to our own detriment, falsely believing that it's going to contribute to some sort of prosperity. And that's not ever going to be sustainable. And so coming back to that model, or desire for a model of sustainability, like how can we take care of ourselves, nurture our spirits, focus on healing, and recognize that that is going to be synonymous with the healing that we need to see within our professional work as well?

Analiza: I want to drill down Sarah, on what you shared that when you were following the model of achievement, taking a step back and realizing that you are furthest from yourself, or this from the Creator, and it's actually return, that we can feed our soul and stay centered and be with the Creator. It's so powerful. I mean, if we could only know that right, as much as we hold up these models of success, especially as a woman of color where we're like, we want to I mean, we're just like we want to help and therefore you're like, oh, no, I didn't eat. And I do this over multiple days or months. And then suddenly, I'm just not taking care of myself and your mother to Sarah.

So I'm curious, how do we change that because this is individual, but it's also collective. And it's also kind of system breaking? So I'm curious, do you have a theory on how this can be brought to? Yeah, the bigger system level?

Sarah: Well, actually, so I'm working to develop that theory and my work now, like it's become my own personal mission, but also a really invested professional mission. I know that in talking with a lot of leaders within my local community, there's a common theme that women leaders, especially our indigenous female leaders in the community, are reluctant to express vulnerability around I'm tired, or I need to step back and recenter and regroup. There's also this fear of like, if I'm not doing it, then it's not getting done. And so I need to just continue to my own detriment, because otherwise the work is not happening. And we think about that. And we think about the harm that's being perpetuated in that cycle. And I'm a living testament of that harm. Like, if I'm not caring for myself, if I'm not prioritizing my needs, within all my roles as a professional as a mom, as a sister of friend, then I'm not going to be good for myself, but I'm ultimately not going to be good for anyone else around me.

And so I think one thing that I feel like trauma has taught us is that we're selfish if we focus internally, or we're selfish if we focus on self, but you know, and that selfishness is something that I feel like becomes a false conception that we hold. I think about even our own people like it looked traditionally like what two people were communal people in one day, I was talking to one of my sisters and I was like, the beauty of communal living. In my mind, we're not immune from anxiety or depression or mental health illnesses back in the day, I know that there were a lot more prevalent grounding practices, but we recognized the need to be supportive of each other. And so when people were not on the top of their game, or they were not able to be their best self, there was no shame in that admittance. It was like, the community's going to step in, I think about that, when it comes to there's, it takes a village to raise a child, it truly does, because we cannot operate at a 10 100% of the time. And so having that system and the community of carrying around us and being able to feel safe enough to say, I need help, or this is where I need healing, or even, frankly, are in this day and age to be able to identify what needs to be healed, how we need to be healed, and what we can do to even initiate that process.

I think it's like it's true, it's a true testament to how far we've come away from self that we need to come back to self. And I don't know if that answers the question. I often say, My mind goes like a prairie dog town, I have a destination, but then I'll be on these other paths talking about things.

Analiza: Thank you, Sarah. And thank you for giving your go at this question. It is heavily loaded. So let me make sure I named that. How do we heal? And what do we heal? How do we do it for ourselves? And then what do we do for the larger community that we need all of us to be in together? And this idea that it does take a village.

And I'm curious, if we take these theories right, and try to put them into practice. And we're trying to dismantle systems, the idea of community, because you didn't say just wellness, you said community wellness, and being able to lift up and say, vulnerably, I'm not showing up, because I'm tired. I'm not showing up because I need help. Those are real core identities. And in this case, because I'm, if I were to follow the traditional success metrics like that, those make me look weak.

And so I hear you saying, let's, let's, let's uncover those beliefs, let's create new beliefs. Can we talk about community because it does take a village. And so if you were to look at your indigenous roots, because there has been the practices, right, these have been done. For centuries, as you know, pre colonial like times, indigenous people did live in community, and learned about that grounding ourselves, and our grandmothers, great grandmothers, like our ancestors. I'm curious, you have thoughts on? What does it mean? What could it look like? I know we're being a bit unicorn about this, but what could it look like? If we were to be in a community, however you want to take that, but I would love to do that. But I'm just like we're talking but what does it really mean? Sarah, feel free to riff off that however you want to?

Sarah: Okay, I was going to say, if I had the answer to this question, I would be excelling and doing so many groundbreaking things with regard to wellness, I am thinking, I feel like wellness, and from a communal perspective is a huge iceberg, right. And so society's only seeing that tick, and there's a whole, there's a whole body of ice under there that we need to chip away at. But one thing that I'm learning in my own personal journey is the more my focus is external, the more anxiety I become because I'm like, Oh my gosh, I'm trying to solve all of these systemic issues outside of myself when ultimately the only control I have is within.

And so my I it goes back to that notion of servant leadership, and servant leadership, you are still taking care of yourself, you self care is still an ultimate priority. But then, when you become pulled down by those debilitating thoughts or feelings, it becomes more okay, as a servant leader. It's not necessarily how I'm going to show up, but how the impact of My presence is going to affect those who I encountered today. And so how is the creator? How is Togashi, Allah, or God showing up through me today? And how can that potentially affect someone else's life today or their path?

And so I'm starting to recognize the beauty of modeling that and just like when I do things that I know, are holding myself accountable to a path of self care. I know that the impact of my leadership is going to be greater because I'm showing up in a space that's not leading with my trauma, but leaving in the rule of love. And I don't know if that's still too unicorn or too abstract, but it's definitely calmed me down because I think systemic wellness is something that Really overwhelms me, just because it's been a part of my life for so long like encountering it. And I think that the way that I communicate with people is often being hyper conscious of perceptions of others and not like, it's like, I've always been living for someone outside of me and not myself like, and so now it's coming back to, how can I stand in the power of my personal mission and my personal vision of what success is, by upholding my boundaries, but also showing compassion and love

Analiza: So profound because I asked you a big you'll call unicorn question. And to share with us, Sarah, that, it's actually when we do it that way, right? When I'm more external, external, how am I peering? How is this going? That's super stressful. So realizing we only have control of ourselves, what can I do? How is my energy affecting others? How can I allow the Creator to pass through LIKE, SHARE? Like, can I be a vehicle and allow that to guide me instead of now I'm responsible for the entire universe? I'm like, Whoa. So I love that.

And I want to go to this concept. Sarah, you mentioned love? Because I don't know about you. But when we used to say, I mean, I don't even know if we've talked about love. Like, is that something we talked about in a professional setting? For me personally, it was not as much as we were helping to guide children's love was, I don't even know if we talked, we're like academics, making sure people are confident, you know, had grit. And I'm not sure love played a role. And so the fact that you ended with this idea of love, and using that as a way of bringing people together and community. Could we, when you think about love, self love, love for others. And you also said it's about not leading with trauma, right? But instead from love, can you? What does that mean? Like, I love that, Sign me up? What does that mean, when you say that, and if you have any tangible examples, I would just love to hear about that.

Sarah: Oh, my gosh, when I talk about the creator opening the door, these conversations have been at the forefront of my sisters and as phone calls lately. So we've actually, one of my younger sisters actually brought up the fact that love is something that we're really not formally taught even in our households like, you can have people personify love and you and that's based, it's relative to experience, right. But we don't all share the same definition of low, we don't have the same experiences of love.

And frankly, when I think about leading with trauma and the journey to self love, because that's really ultimately what my journey is showing me like I need to cultivate that, first and foremost, and then, and if you could tell if a person could cultivate self love, to that extent to them in being able to stand in their personal mission, be able to enforce boundaries that protect that personal mission, and ultimately, your sense of self and worth, and worthiness, I think that would transform the way that we're interacting. And so I would love to say that all of my perceptions on love are cultivated through my own experiences. And a lot of them have been,

I've been hearing a lot more from podcasts, such as Jay Shetty, and his variety of talks that have enlightened me so much. And I'm thinking that when we think about especially BIPOC communities, I'm going to talk specifically about women and the women that I've encountered, and we've had vulnerable discussions about love. There seems to be this trend of the same, the same personal experience, I had that because our upbringing made us feel that our worth was contingent upon people, situations and achievements outside of us. That's what we were actively pursuing. So things that were supposed to validate our loving value that were our worth externally.

But really, many of them who have come back to self realize that it's always been with it. We are born worthy. We're born sovereign. We're born with love, and being able to stand in that power and recognizing that is a really beautiful thing. And so I think then that makes us more confidently able to choose things and people situations that are the best for ourselves and keep us whole. And I don't know, like I'm still trying to wrestle with that question. So I love that you asked me that and it's going to actually send me on a deep reflection journey this afternoon, I feel but it's something ongoing, and I know that that's where my path is currently. So to be continued, I may have an answer for you at some time and experience But that's all for that. I mean, that's what I have today,

Analiza: Sarah, we both work in education, and we help shape young people. And we're not schools are not all the things. Obviously, there's parents, there's environment, there's our entire experiences that we are not privy to. At the same time schools are a way in which we can support young people with their beliefs about the world. And I wonder if there's an opportunity to talk about love, and talk about worse. And I know when we talk about, you know, EQ, emotional intelligence, how do we help our students have those beliefs about themselves, but I wonder if there's more we can do about this and love. And at the same time, we need to do the work ourselves.

Because if I'm chasing a hamster wheel, which I think about my parents who immigrated from the Philippines, I mean, the success is like in so many ways, they're like the American Dream Epitome, right? Like, we're able to invest in their children and invest in owning property, like having this rise in their stature.

And yet, there's this idea that, okay, we've made it yet there are our own internalized beliefs, and that those don't have to be steeped in trauma, right? We don't have to be like, okay, all these terrible things happen. You know, I really wish my parents would have done things differently. So recognize that, but to say, well, how can I love me? And how can I love myself now? How can I model that? I love this idea about boundaries? Because boundaries are not to push people out, right? It's to make sure that we stay, that we protect our core, and help people teach people, right, how we can love us in a way that's respectful, and we can be that purpose.

So I love that because I feel like when we center that, then we can actually help our teams, we can help our young people because now we're modeling it not saying if you don't get the grades, or you don't get the position, or you don't get that, which is all that society tells us when you're still okay. There are other ways to measure love. Do you love you, if you love you, like, That's all of it, right? And icing on the cake, if you can also get some of these other things. But that's not the game we're playing. We're playing a different game. And how can you help others love themselves? If you're really at that stage, right? The next stage is like helping the love movement. It really is like love. I mean, it's such a, like, a broken curriculum, breaking stereotypes, and like, maybe it's love, because that unites everyone, that we all go through hard things, including that Holocaust experience. But it is about love. So I'm curious, like, riff off that, Sarah, if there's anything that's coming up for you, that maybe it's it could be?

Sarah: I was just thinking back on the impact that the education system has on instilling these beliefs. And I think it goes back to the intention to standardize or homogenize education to make it a one size fits all shoe for everyone, when in fact, like, through my own experience, through the experience of my sons, we can tell you that that's not the case. And so I think, being grounded in love, students don't start to create self fulfilling prophecies that I'm not measuring up to this metric system. Therefore, my I don't have worth because I don't excel here. And they're not given more opportunity. So I'm thinking it's a hybrid of things. But I would say yes, like, it does go back to love because you think about us. I feel like, at least in my community, we spend a lot of time dwelling on what's wrong. Like why do we have this tension? Why is this division here? Who's doing what wrong? Like how can we write it but we're not thinking about what some right what values do we all contribute to this space that make us uniquely beautiful? What values are is each community bringing that embodying love or personifying love to the greatest degree that we see.

And I'm thinking like, when I think about love with my first my first thought on love, like if we all thought back to the very first instance of love we had in our life like I will always say it was my grandma because I felt like unconditionally loved and I could show up in any in any mood any way that any Sarah that I wanted to be, or was and she would still take me in and love me. And it didn't mean that she was going to excuse poor behavior. It meant that she just loved me without a doubt and she was going to have expectations for my success and well being, but it wouldn't my level of outward success would never influence her feelings or even emotions toward me. And I know that's tangential. But I'm, I've been thinking that about that a lot more like that concept of self love is so critical because without it we tolerate things that we wouldn't otherwise do if we had that fully intact. And I think the ability to truly love makes us also truly forgive. And that's a really critical piece of life that I'm learning as well, like true forgiveness. True love. Confidence in surrendering to the process.

Analiza: Sarah, can you talk more about that? Because that's a beautiful thing that when we love we can forgive? When we love we can surrender. What does that mean?

Sarah: I think it goes back to this concept. Well, I'm on a journey, like trying to figure out how to Sarah love Sarah, how can I truly, truly love who I am, in all intersectional forms of my being and I'm thinking like, when we don't forgive, we hold on to resentment, that that lack of forgiveness or the the perpetrator of the action or the perpetrator of the harm, doesn't ever feel our lack of forgiveness, we just deplete our own energy in that space. And so I think being able to fully accept that everything doesn't happen to us, it happens to catalyze a certain happens for us.

I was thinking about a Rumi quote about our wound is where light shines through. And that can ultimately become our tool for, for success or vocation in life. And I think about all of all of the light shining through me and the various cuts like going to Frida Kahlo, the death by 1000 cuts, and you think about all of those places where light is shining? And like how can you transform that into a beautiful space of healing and light for other people who are experiencing the same thing. And so I think that's what it's about. And it's really hard in the midst of that in the midst of the pain of those wounds to see that. But when we give more time and space for ourselves to do the healing, I think then we can start seeing that, oh, that's where light is coming from. And that light is ultimately helping other people.

Analiza: I hear you saying, Sarah, that those wounds, those cuts are ways in which we can, if we give it love and healing, we can allow ourselves to see that those are guidance, there's our angels as our posts to help us direct us to our purpose. And therefore we're able to forgive, right that these hard things in life are opportunities, knowing that they're hard, just to be clear. They're not, they're painful and hard. And with that view, it's an asset based view, we're able to not just take care of ourselves, but model for others. So sir, before we go to lightning round, I'm curious, because we keep going to the system, right, the work that we want, if we want to change the system, we need to do the work ourselves. And that so much of that is love. So I'm curious. With all that's happening, I know the politics and the backlash DEI nd this conversation, right? Because I want to ground us like, oh, that's happening. And yet this beauty, this beautiful conversation is really inspiring me to think okay, what, what can be done? How can we have hope? Well, how do you pair the two hard stuff outside? And yet the work we're trying to do ourselves? Like how, what would what kind of advice or thoughts would you share with us? Who was just like, oh, my gosh, this feels like we're going backwards. I'm like that, but that's going backwards? What would you think of that?

Sarah: Well, I think, um, I think that's a perfect, challenging question, because I just talked about love and forgiveness and surrendering to the process. And there have been a lot of policy attacks on our people, and, frankly, on Indigenous education, especially in South Dakota. And so if I look at that through the language of love and the spirit of forgiveness, and not necessarily surrendering to the process, but recognizing that we do have the power, like, I was just actually visiting with some colleagues and I said, you know, at what point are we going to quit swimming upstream? Because that's what education reform has felt like swimming constantly upstream in survival mode all the time to the depletion of self.

And so I'm like, What can we honor that we already have to create pathways and alternatives that both create a sense of accountability for existing systems but create a pathway for healing to occur within those systems. And so trying to think innovatively outside of the box like, yes, there is a sense of this urgency around the act of resistance to these political threats. But there's also this notion of, we have inherent genius, we have tried and true solutions, like, we could start thinking of innovative ways to get them more exposure, and get them more immersed in our spaces. I think the challenge, and I know that NIH Executive Director Diana Cournoyer, was formerly on here, and she talked a lot about the fact that indigenous Ed is the fabric or the absent narrative, or the fabric of this American education system. And coming from that space, like, of, of just full acknowledgement in our inherent knowing that before America was colonized this land with all was all indigenous, and being able to come back to the spirit of that values, based stewardship of the land also creates an opportunity for the values based on relationships that we can cultivate with each other. And so I think that spirit, like we're never going to reverse the wrongs that happened. So how can we use them? How can we start letting healing happen? And how can we be the catalyst for that healing to happen? That's been kind of something I've been wrestling with.

Analiza: Sarah, it's interesting, this theme that as we want to self help solve, make better all the external world, can we come back to ourselves and come back to our ancestors, and remember that we already have our inherent genius here. And as much as we think this is one moment in time, that's like the most difficult time we are in a time period, right, of constant, this is a long, long history. We're part of history. And can we look back to what our ancestors did before like the beginning of time? There are ways in which we were together and community that our ancestors practiced and actually, can we go back there, that there's so much to learn and that, let's just remember, right? We forgot. Let's remember that we have it within us that there's beauty and love. And let's ground ourselves back. So thank you, Sarah. Oh, my goodness. I'm just filled with so much warmth. Are you ready for lightning round? Are you ready?

Sarah: Yes.

Analiza: First question chocolate or vanilla?

Sarah: Chocolate.

Analiza: Cooking or takeout?

Sarah 42:46 Cooking.

Analiza: Would you rather climb a mountain or jump from a plane?

Sarah: Oh my goodness. I would much rather climb a mountain but I want to jump out of a plane. So I know that's a trick answer. But both Yes. And both.

Analiza: Have you ever worn socks with sandals?

Sarah: Yes.

Analiza: How would you rate your karaoke skills on a scale of one to ten, ten being Mariah Carey?

Sarah: Oh gosh, in my mind number ten. But in reality and video documentation proves and probably at a solid three.

Analiza: What's the recent book you read?

Sarah: Oh, the Eight Rules of Love by Jay Shetty are all about love by bell hooks. I just finished that one as well. That's a great read.

Analiza: What is your favorite way to practice self care?

Sarah: I love to wake up before the sun and walk without any sort of technology. So I like to watch the sunrise and the best days are when the stars are still out and then you just watch it peacefully rise because the world is still asleep.

Analiza: What's a good professional development you've done?

Sarah: Hmmm, I looked into the mirror. And I mean that in a Taylor Swift song I'd rather be staring directly at the Sun but never in the mirror. It's like that. That's true. Like, it's all about this healing journey. Like really looking at the things that I need to work on intrinsically. So I think self care, self love, true self love and doing that work. Internal work is important.

Analiza: So good. What is your definition of a Boss Mama?

Sarah: Oh, a mother that embodies the prioritization of her own personal mission as she has a personal mission, vision for her success in life to choose to prioritize self, and then three, she strives to be the best in the spaces of all aspects of her life and is also forgiving. When she's not operating at the rate at which she would like to.

Analiza: What advice would you give your younger self?

Sarah: You are worthy. I would be like, oh my girl, you're worthy. You don't have to prove anything to anyone.

Analiza: And where can we find you like LinkedIn or anywhere else?

Sarah: You can find me on LinkedIn. You could also find the coalition on Facebook and LinkedIn and Facebook is probably the coalition's page on Facebook. But myself personally is on LinkedIn.

Analiza: And last question, do you have a final ask recommendation or any parting thoughts for us?

Sarah: I would say that, yes, to everyone out there, you are worthy, you are loved. And you are worth the effort that you have the potential to invest in yourself.

Analiza: So beautiful. Thank you so much, Sarah.

Sarah: Thank you.

Analiza: Thank you so much for carving out time today to hear today's podcast. Three things before you go. First, if you found it helpful, please leave a five star review. Second, please share it with someone else. You can share the link and posts on Facebook and say check it out. Lastly, I want to thank you for being a listener and you can go to get a free self care bonus called juice your joy at analizawolf.com/freebonus. Thank you so much.