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Growing Up Mixed Race: Biracial Child and Monoracial Parents Reflect

An illustration of a family portrait of a mixed race family in the 90s — specifically Anita's family. There are three kids in the foreground - Anita's older sister on the left, her baby brother in her mother's arms in the middle, and Anita, wearing a shirt that matches her sister's, on the right. Anita and her sister are elementary school-aged, and her brother is about 1. Behind them are her parents: her father is Indian with a mustache and glasses, and her mother is white wearing a headband and a necklace. There are dashes around Anita on the right and the word "Anita" with an arrow pointing to her above her head.
Charnel Hunter

In her college application essay, host Anita Rao described herself as a colorful parrot living in a cultural jungle — with her English and Indian sides occupying different realms. Now, she reflects on her biracial experience with her parents.

When host Anita Rao’s parents got married in 1984, their interracial marriage made newspaper headlines in her mother’s small hometown. The novelty of their marriage made Sheila and Satish Rao determined to prove that race was not an obstacle to their relationship — nor to the raising of their children.

Three decades later, Anita reflects with Satish and Sheila on how they approached biracial children, their thoughts on the Embodied mixed race identity episode from July 14 and what questions it brought up for them about their daughter’s racial identity.

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Kaia Findlay is the lead producer of Embodied, WUNC's weekly podcast and radio show about sex, relationships and health. Kaia first joined the WUNC team in 2020 as a producer for The State of Things.
Anita Rao is an award-winning journalist, host, creator, and executive editor of "Embodied," a weekly radio show and podcast about sex, relationships & health.