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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 experience of living between cultures while constantly navigating how others perceive her.

Together, they unpack everything from language and representation to beauty standards, colorism, mixed identity assumptions, and the emotional impact of exclusion within one’s own community. Teressa also shares how leaving home as a teenager transformed her understanding of family, belonging, and resilience, ultimately shaping the compassionate and culturally aware person she is today.

As a discrimination complaint investigator for the State of California and commissioner on the City of Elk Grove’s Diversity and Inclusion Commission, Teressa brings both lived experience and professional insight to this deeply honest conversation about identity, empathy, and connection.

In this episode, you’ll hear:

• Why racial ambiguity often creates both curiosity and exclusion
• The impact of colorism and Eurocentric beauty standards in South Asian communities
• How language can create a sense of home and belonging
• What it means to build chosen family after feeling disconnected from your own community
• The difference between cultural appreciation and cultural appropriation

Dr. Shawna Gann also shares reflections from her ongoing research into mixed identity experiences and belonging. Her upcoming book Mixed Signals: The Multiracial Case for Civility and Belonging at Work releases in early Fall. Visit the website to sign up for updates, book news, and upcoming conversations.

Connect with Teressa Plammoottil on Instagram @terenovah

Listen, subscribe, and share your thoughts with us. We’d love to hear how this conversation resonated with your own experiences of identity and 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.

Consider joining the Critical Mixed Race Studies Association!

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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 George Floyd’s murder to ongoing conversations around race, privilege, identity, and institutional power.

Joshua reflects on his experiences studying law and navigating spaces where justice and politics collide, while Dr. Shawna Gann challenges listeners to think critically about propaganda, accountability, and the choices people make in the information age. The episode also explores liminal identity, intersectionality, whiteness as a social construct, and how systems of power shape the stories we tell ourselves about fairness, equality, and belonging. This conversation is thoughtful, emotional, intellectually rigorous, and deeply human.

Listeners will hear discussions about:

• Transitional justice and reconciliation
• Race and systemic inequity in America
• Media algorithms and political polarization
• Activism and community care in Minneapolis
• Intersectionality and liminal identity
• The difference between equity and equality
• The role of honesty in social change

If this episode resonates with you, share it with someone who values courageous conversation and thoughtful dialogue. Subscribe, leave a review, and continue the conversation with us online.

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.

Consider joining the Critical Mixed Race Studies Association!

MESSAGE ME HERE!

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 monoracism, Marc offers language and insight for experiences many people have felt but struggled to name.

Together, they explore how identity is shaped not just by who we are, but by the structures around us—from higher education to the workplace. Marc shares how his own experiences led him to study multiraciality, the importance of both specificity and shared experience in research, and why building community often happens later in life or outside traditional spaces. The conversation also dives into leadership, highlighting how navigating complex identities can influence empathy, perspective-taking, and the way we show up in the world.

This episode is a reminder that identity doesn’t have to fit neatly into predefined boxes—and that there is real power in embracing complexity, creating space, and building community where it doesn’t yet exist.

Connect and Learn More:

• Learn more about the Critical Mixed Race Studies Association
  
• Listen to the episode about the CMRSA Conference
  
• Learn more about Dr. Shawna Gann’s work and sign up for updates on her upcoming book Mixed Signals:
  

If this conversation resonated with you, share it with someone who might need it—and don’t forget to subscribe, rate, and review the show.

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.

Consider joining the Critical Mixed Race Studies Association!