ABSTRACT
This chapter documents the lived experiences of a scientist-practitioner-scholar. The author examines her experiences as a child in a colonial context and how those shaped her worldviews within and outside her family. These experiences formed the basis of her development of the concept of cultural programming. She learned to name and understand this cultural programing in the context of important academic and psychological concepts such as colorism and implicit bias. The author developed new questions for study and used her relative privilege to create the opportunities to diversify science and psychology. In this chapter, the author reflects on the process of staying woke as one that includes a nuanced understanding of one’s personal narrative. She advances the notion that each human is a product of their social context. Staying woke is about ourselves, not others. Staying woke can feed understanding and empathy. Cultural programming is temporary. The author documents her process of growth and change in the service of advancing multicultural education, practice, and research, from her family of origin to her family of procreation and to her chosen family of friends, students, colleagues, and mentors. The author’s personal life shaped her scientific pursuits, and her scientific pursuits have shaped her personal life.
