For many of guests, their international story starts with growing up in cross-cultural homes. Often one parent (or both!) crossed international borders to find life, love, happiness or safety. Motsabi Rooper, talked about growing up in London with a South African father and a white British mother. Solonia Teodros discussed living in Asia as a daughter of an Ethiopian father and Taiwanese mother. And journalist Jim Stenman, who also had an Ethiopian parent compared the nuances of his mother’s immigrant story with those of his Swedish father.
And my next guest, Georgia Goodman fits the bill. As a child, she had a highly mobile life as the daughter of a mixed race French African father who was a diplomat and a Vietnamese mom. Georgia is an actress with over 10 years experience in her profession in the UK. She has since amassed an impressive CV of high profile television and film credits, and is currently looking forward to pushing boundaries as a filmmaker.
Because we all know I love a good out of the box story, we spend a significant amount of time discussing what it meant to grow up mixed race, particularly in Africa and Asia. We also discuss how her physical identity had an impact in working in film and the changes she’s starting to see towards inclusivity in the industry.
"But my mother was just amazing in that she always made sure that my brother and I would know both sides of our culture. So my mother is a Buddhist and she would always observe the Vietnamese traditions and Vietnamese dates like the Day of the Dead and stuff like that. She would literally push us to also observe the African customs and traditions, especially when we lived in Gabon. And so she just encouraged us to basically know both sides."
Powered by RedCircle
EPISODE CONTENT | HIGHLIGHTS:
Her early years growing up as both a Third Culture Kid & Cross-Cultural Kid in Asia & Africa [3:05]
Managing situations where people are unsure how to categorize or identify her.[7:32]
The discomfort of dealing with extended family in Gabon [13:19]
How she became a media professional [27:50]
The diversity problem in the UK film industry early in her career. [36:36]
How her “internationalism” has helped her career [56:35]
RESOURCES MENTIONED/REFERENCED:
SOCIAL MEDIA:
You can find Georgia on Instagram.