Skip to content

A clarification from your “racially ambiguous” scribe

Eleanor Beaton

Today someone said to me: “I didn’t know you were Meghan Markle!”

I said: “What do you mean?”

She said: “Take a guess.”

I said, “Because I am bi-racial.”

She said: “YES! I didn’t know that about you. You never talk about it.”

(Before you get in a huff about the nature of conversation, or are trying to figure out which one of us should get cancelled first, know that this was a black woman who was commenting on the fact that she and I had more in common than she originally thought.)

Anyway. Her surprise at my ethnicity struck me as funny because I feel like I talk about myself and my experiences ALL THE TIME, and it surprises me when people don’t realize I’m bi-racial. 

Because being bi-racial, being a woman of colour, is a huge part of who I am, was a major shaper of my experience growing up, and is therefore a big part of my worldview today. 

AND…for those of us who ARE bi-racial, there can sometimes be a distinct feeling of not belonging anywhere. Combine that with being an immigrant (which I also am), and you get potentially a lot of ethnic ambiguity….And for me personally, a deep feeling of not feeling “entitled” to an ethnicity.

I have never thought of myself as a white woman. I am the daughter of a white man. When I was a kid, I always considered myself to be a brown kid, and the daughter of a black woman.

I know what I’m not…but I guess I don’t really know — from an ethnicity perspective — what I AM, ethnically speaking.

And perhaps this sense of ambiguity — combined with my lewks which have been mistaken for Ethiopian, Brazilian, Somali, in various taxis and airports around the world — is why I have not been as clear as I could be that…

YOUR SCRIBE IS A WOMAN OF COLOUR. 

(OR, FOR MY U.S. SISTERS, COLOR WITHOUT THE “U”).

The entire purpose of this email was to clarify this fact. 

That is all, adieu.

 

Want More?

  1. Book a Debrief call with my team. We are very good at pinpointing the ONE THING that will drive the lion’s share of your growth.
  2. Get exclusive insights and inspiration — with a healthy dose of attitude — by subscribing to my newsletter.
  3. Check out episode 436: The Confidence Gap for Women Entrepreneurs
     
Book a 15 minute Growth Audit with a Scale Specialist.
This is default text for notification bar