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Princess Sarah Culberson's Journey to Discovering her Royal Roots | SWAY’S UNIVERSE
Oct 26, 2023
Princess Sarah Culberson, a talented actress and dancer, has had an incredible journey of self-discovery. Her search for her birth parents led her to a shocking discovery - she is a Mahaloi and a princess in Sierra Leone, West Africa. Recently, Princess Sarah stopped by Sway In The Morning to tell her amazing story.
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Exclusive interviews from Sway Calloway and the Sway In The Morning/ SwaysUniverse.com team with some of today's biggest celebrities, like Kevin Hart, Kanye West, Eminem, Usher, Jessica Alba, Steve Aoki, Torey Lanez, Julia Stiles and so much more.
Princess Sarah Culberson's Journey to Discovering her Royal Roots
https://youtu.be/jYKHrRwA8v8
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0:00
be Chief someday you are a princess in
0:03
this
0:04
country what an amazing story and she's
0:08
probably one out of many of us who
0:10
figured it out she had to do her own
0:13
investigation princess Sarah was born in
0:17
Morgantown West Virginia to her African
0:19
father and a white mother as an infant
0:21
she was put into foster care citizens
0:24
here this story she learned that her
0:26
biological mother died when she was just
0:28
11 and her father lived in a village in
0:30
Sierra Leon West Africa from him is when
0:34
she learned about her royal family and
0:36
that she is how do you say it mahali
0:39
Mahala oh Mahalo Mahalo yes the
0:42
granddaughter of a paramont chief um
0:45
since then she has accepted and embraced
0:48
that title she's become a globe Trotter
0:51
uh she's a a philanthropist a public
0:53
speaker a writer a educator a actress a
0:57
dancer okay she has Sierra Leon Rising
1:01
which is her nonprofit organization and
1:04
I think she's representative of a lot of
1:06
people who are probably over here in
1:07
this land if you take the time to trace
1:09
back your lineage you might find that
1:11
you are a princess too please welcome
1:13
her to the show we got a princess we got
1:16
royalty in here today the one and only
1:18
princess Sarah C in his here princess
1:22
isn't she a cool one
1:24
yes I like that right wow I love it yes
1:29
yes
1:30
what what does it mean to be a princess
1:33
in
1:34
2023 um it means responsibility okay to
1:38
your people in the community and
1:39
something greater than ourselves that's
1:41
what it means to that's what it means
1:43
and and and and and but when did you
1:45
come to that understanding like after
1:48
you found out who your family is when
1:51
did you decide I want to step out in
1:52
that role and make impact when I got
1:56
there and saw what happened after an
1:57
11year Civil War I was like oh I can't
2:00
go back to Los Angeles and act as if I
2:01
didn't see this is my family yeah it's
2:03
not the blood diamonds movie with
2:05
Leonardo DiCaprio and jimon Hsu that I
2:07
can press pause on this is my family and
2:10
I said I feel like I've been brought
2:12
here for a reason and let's see how we
2:15
can work together to help rebuild after
2:17
this war what were you doing at that
2:19
time with your life I was acting I did I
2:23
was an actress I danc in a professional
2:25
dance company called Contra TMO so I was
2:28
doing the artist work I bachelor's and
2:30
MERS in Fine Arts so that's what I was
2:32
studying and doing and then when I found
2:34
my family my whole trajectory Chang like
2:38
my I didn't really care as much about
2:39
acting I wanted to know I was more I
2:42
wasn't interested in Hollywood I was
2:43
interested in my family's livelihood
2:45
that's what I was interested in so you
2:46
took a trip to Sierra Leon yes right
2:49
tell us about that first time you met
2:51
your family oh my gosh it was so
2:54
special um my father gave me this
2:58
beautiful green African dress so I've
3:01
met all these family members before I
3:02
should share that that live in Maryland
3:04
okay and they were hilarious hello s I'm
3:07
your uncle Ali your father's favorite
3:08
uncle hello s I'm your auntie Jen they
3:11
used to call us twins when we're little
3:12
so all these African family members are
3:14
calling me welcoming me to the
3:17
family and I was overwhelmed by love and
3:20
we planned a trip for six months later
3:22
to go to Sierra Leon and I get to meet
3:25
my birth father and he gives me this
3:28
beautiful G green African dress he has a
3:30
matching green shirt I said okay we're
3:32
going to be twins he said I would love
3:33
you to wear this into our family's
3:35
Village I said okay so I put it on and
3:38
we go on what I call the Indiana Jones
3:40
roads to boomi my family's V the Indiana
3:45
jonesed catic yes I mean bumpy roads to
3:49
bumpe and when we arrive in the village
3:52
there are hundreds of people to welcome
3:54
me wow in all the everyone Parts like
3:58
choreography and all the women of the
4:00
village come forward wearing that same
4:03
green dress that I've been given and
4:05
they were singing they were
4:14
singing Sarah go to they're singing
4:17
We're preparing for Sarah in my family's
4:19
language of men W I'd never met anyone
4:22
there before right I was like pinching
4:24
myself I I grew up trying to be trying
4:26
to fit in I was adopted into an
4:28
all-white family in West Virginia
4:30
I was like doing the track star
4:32
homecoming queen full scholarship to
4:34
college trying to be good enough and I
4:35
just showed up in Sierra Leon and it was
4:39
enough just like I realize just
4:41
sometimes just showing up is enough
4:43
let's take a moment to take that in man
4:46
yo well I I went to Ghana right and um
4:50
and I I think all descendants and people
4:52
in the diaspora should go back if you
4:55
can if you're able to go back to Africa
4:57
and I and I went to um um the point of
5:00
no return in uh el el el what is
5:05
it yeah yeah Elina castles yeah but the
5:09
way I was received over there um I
5:12
expressed this and some people may get
5:13
it or not it's the first time I got off
5:15
a plan and didn't feel like I was black
5:19
right I felt like I was home right I
5:23
didn't have this yeah this man-made
5:25
construct of this title put on me yes
5:28
and people receive me like that I've
5:30
never been looked at with no bias yes
5:33
you know what I mean and so what was
5:36
that whole cultural experience must have
5:38
been new to you it was new to me
5:40
especially growing up in an allwhite
5:41
family with so much love but also going
5:43
into a whole another culture and sier
5:45
Leone and meeting the tribe and learning
5:48
about traditions and just being welcomed
5:51
with so much love I remember there was a
5:54
woman she had a necklace on and I said
5:56
oh your necklace is so beautiful she
5:57
said here do you want it she want to
5:59
take off no no no I just wanted to say
6:02
thank you I I just I just love your
6:04
necklace so the beauty and also I took
6:08
students over to Sierra Leon and the
6:11
high school students from America said
6:13
we break our iPhones a parties to get
6:15
the new iPhone this to get the new
6:17
iPhone that and they admitted that right
6:20
wow right and then they said kids in
6:23
sier Leon could have an empty water
6:24
bottle this is soon after the war and
6:26
they're excited to go to the pump to
6:28
fill it up to get clean drinking water
6:30
they said we have so much and it's never
6:33
enough said what's going on with us and
6:37
I think it was there something so
6:38
powerful because there's so much Beauty
6:40
and confidence and and fun and that
6:42
happens in sier Leone there might not be
6:44
all those material things but there's
6:48
family and community and tribe that's so
6:50
special that's that's so empowering and
6:54
even these kids that I took from the
6:55
United States were like we feel it here
6:58
they said we feel safe safer here than
7:00
we ever have in the United States and
7:02
they live in very nice areas in Los
7:04
Angeles so the community and the tribe
7:07
is so special wow wow princess princess
7:11
yeah hold on I got to say that with a
7:13
deep voice
7:14
right
7:16
introducing princess Sarah cobson and I
7:20
am with the king and the queen I know I
7:23
know who I'm I know who I'm if you never
7:25
talk to royalty we're going to open up
7:27
the phone lines you can talk with a
7:29
royalty right now directly 888 742
7:34
3345 I love it hey
7:39
hey we got a princess here with us right
7:42
now she goes by the name of Sarah cson
7:45
found out that she belongs to royalty
7:47
her lineage is from Sierra Leon um her
7:49
family are Paramount comes from a family
7:51
of Paramount Chiefs what is that mean to
7:54
be a Paramount Chief you are in charge
7:57
of a chief of many section Chiefs that
7:59
report to you so there are 10 section
8:02
Chiefs that report to my uncle and we
8:04
run a chief them of 70,000 so we've been
8:07
doing work in public health education
8:09
technology and female empowerment for
8:11
the last many years and um my
8:14
grandfather was noted Justice of the
8:16
Peace by the Queen of England for their
8:17
work in the country so England really
8:20
wanted to have one Queen of England back
8:21
in the day when they colonized and when
8:24
I was talking to the history professors
8:26
and so on in Sierra Leone they said we
8:29
are descendants from royalty and and
8:32
there are different royal families that
8:34
run for the position and so my family's
8:37
one of the royal families that runs for
8:38
the position in the chiefdom and um it's
8:42
been pretty interesting learning and
8:44
when I did this interview in Sierra
8:46
Leone there was the young man who was
8:48
interviewing me walked up to me and he
8:50
said are you part of the pooa family I
8:52
said yes I'm part of the P family said I
8:54
studied about your family in our history
8:57
books and I didn't even know know that I
8:59
I I'm constantly learning more and more
9:03
that that but see that's kind of you
9:05
know isn't that a problem we have all
9:07
over the planet right we don't know our
9:09
history right for whatever reason
9:12
whether it was erased uh swept under a
9:15
rug destroyed purposely or Li lied about
9:18
we just don't know our history well
9:21
that's what I think is so important and
9:24
uh I co-wrote a book with my writing
9:26
partner Tracy trivis um the book is
9:28
called a princess found and our
9:30
intentions behind this book is we want
9:32
to make a difference we want people to
9:33
talk about forgiveness of family members
9:37
um adoption coming together learning
9:39
about a culture and a developing country
9:41
that went through an 11-year Blood
9:43
Diamond War but also having this book
9:46
shift The Narrative of us as black folks
9:50
being descendants from slaves but yet
9:52
we're descendants from royalty mothers
9:54
fathers sisters brothers lawyers doctors
9:57
and were brought around the world and
9:58
enslaved but that's not our that's not
10:00
our start that's not our start and so
10:03
Shifting The Narrative through this book
10:04
and also working on a movie to shift the
10:06
narrative that's what we're interested
10:08
in what's the name of the book the book
10:10
is called a princess found an American
10:13
Family African chiefdom in the daughter
10:15
who connected them all
10:18
yes okay had the AGB you want to jump
10:21
yeah I did thank you for coming to the
10:22
show welcome welcome welcome um I want
10:25
to give a shout out to sway's cousin na
10:27
Smith who came up here
10:29
to do to offer to do a a ancestral
10:33
search you know for us and um I was
10:36
reluctant at first um Sarah because I'm
10:38
thinking you know what you know what you
10:40
know you're comfortable with what you
10:42
know you're good you go with that what
10:43
grandma passed down what Mom pass down
10:45
or dad pass down and you do that and
10:48
something in my spirit just said it's
10:50
it's time and I a lot of it to be honest
10:52
with you had to do with my mother
10:53
passing um when my mother passed I
10:56
became uh the primary caregiver for for
10:59
my grandmother and having a share this
11:01
time my grandmother a lot of holes got
11:03
filled in you know and I was like I need
11:06
to go further I need to go further but
11:08
I'm not going to lie I took a deep
11:09
breath before I did it what was your
11:12
experience like do you know about that
11:14
deep breath that you was like okay I'm
11:16
about to go into those Waters that I
11:18
feel like everybody has been keeping me
11:20
away from I was terrified mhm because of
11:24
the unknown I didn't know what I was
11:25
going to find out and I was like what if
11:28
he's a bad person
11:29
you know yeah all that fear came up and
11:32
I didn't know what to expect and I just
11:36
I had to go okay I had to I just took on
11:38
being open loving and courageous that's
11:41
what I said yeah and if he wants to meet
11:44
me great if he doesn't want to meet me
11:45
that's okay too but I got to try in this
11:48
lifetime while I'm still on this planet
11:50
I got to try on this life in this
11:53
lifetime in this lifetime while I'm
11:54
still on this planet that part that part
11:57
right there it is not that's I get it
11:59
thank you I get it princess Sarah kerson
12:02
yes you are so fascinating I'm so
12:06
grateful for your presence right now and
12:07
what's crazy is one of my best friends
12:09
his name is Joe he's from Sierra Leon
12:12
and I was just hitting him right now
12:14
because I knew that he had royalty in
12:16
his family but I needed the details and
12:18
he said technically I'm the grandson of
12:20
a chief he was the Paramount chief of Bo
12:23
Kaa Kingdom until his passing in the
12:27
1960s and his cousin is a powermon chief
12:29
right now what's his last name Umaga
12:33
hatwa I'm sure my family knows them yeah
12:36
so it's just crazy how everything is
12:38
interconnected um the first two
12:40
questions that come to mind for me is
12:41
because you were adopted by a white
12:44
family yes upon finding out of this
12:47
incredible history and the title that
12:49
was owed to you how did that impact the
12:52
relationship with your adopted mother
12:54
and father you know what they knew that
12:57
I was part of a royal family family M
12:59
and they knew that I was a surprise they
13:02
knew some information so they told me a
13:04
little bit but they're these
13:07
unbelievable humans and I lost my mom as
13:10
well during the pandemic but they gave
13:12
me so much
13:15
information
13:16
around um my birth family and they just
13:20
they're so secure in who they are they
13:22
said listen we're here for you we're
13:23
here with you on this journey and
13:25
whatever you need and they went with me
13:27
the second trip I took them to Sierra
13:28
Leone and they all stepped in so my
13:30
birth father and my like my dad my white
13:34
dad from West Virginia and my West
13:36
African father worked together with
13:38
rotary and the Rotary Club to dig Wells
13:40
to get 12,000 people clean drinking
13:42
water like completely different cultures
13:44
coming together it was like this is
13:47
bigger than all of us it's not about
13:48
this is my daughter this is my family
13:50
I'm a princess it's like it's about
13:52
Community it's about working on the
13:54
ground we just we have we have a lot of
13:58
off air conversations and it's like you
14:02
you were on the phone with us that's all
14:03
I'm going say oh I love that I love that
14:05
it's big people just don't get it it's
14:07
bigger yeah yeah I'm clear that I get to
14:11
be and I'm grateful for the honor and
14:13
their challenges with it and there's a
14:15
privilege the princess conversation is
14:17
real but there's a huge responsibility
14:19
inside of that and it's not about me and
14:22
that's what I've learned mm like I
14:25
wouldn't even use the title for the
14:26
longest time because I didn't want
14:27
people to think oh I think I'm all that
14:29
and then friends said uh you know black
14:32
and brown girls need to know that we're
14:33
from royalty hell yeah and and we also
14:36
need to know about our history and we
14:39
need to know The Narrative of where we
14:41
have come from and England W only want
14:43
to have one Queen so why don't we own
14:46
where you need to own where you're from
14:47
so I started to embrace the title of
14:49
princess princess Sarah C is here Mike
14:53
you want to bring this wrap us up Mike
14:55
yes princess I am just curious and this
14:58
is a very very personal question for me
15:00
it's more about me than you
15:02
okay but I've always had this thought of
15:05
that the reason why there's been so much
15:06
trauma in Black communities and culture
15:08
is because we just don't understand our
15:10
heritage our constitution where we come
15:12
from and so we walk around aimlessly not
15:14
being grounded by anything which why I
15:16
get so offended by Black Culture
15:19
admonishing like soul food and you know
15:22
just eat more kale and and put the ham
15:24
HW down not really realizing that's
15:25
probably one of the most limiting things
15:27
that we have remaining that ties us of
15:31
like slave era and so I'm just curious
15:34
you know now that you have found self I
15:37
know you talked about you know now you
15:38
just are and you belong and you don't
15:40
know need like homecoming queen to
15:42
Define you but like if you don't mind
15:45
unpacking personally like what has
15:47
healed you now that you know like who
15:50
you are that's is something I've been
15:51
curious about
15:53
myself what has healed me I think having
15:55
a deeper sense of self like you were
15:57
talking about doing those the research
15:59
on our families and knowing whether it's
16:01
a DNA test or so on and having this
16:04
connection
16:05
to um my family the culture and that
16:09
also I can actually share with others
16:12
that gives me a deeper sense of myself
16:14
when I get to talk to little kids about
16:16
the continent when I had this little
16:18
girl come to my office when I was doing
16:20
work at a school and she said we're
16:22
talking about slavery and I'm really
16:24
uncomfortable I said well let me show
16:25
you the or origins of us and I started
16:28
showing her pictures of little girls
16:29
that look like her and sier Leone she
16:30
said they look like me it gets me out of
16:33
my head about myself and getting to be
16:36
for others and start to think about how
16:38
do I Empower little girls with things
16:40
that I needed when I was a kid we're
16:42
creating a doll speaking of that um the
16:46
oid the ID group is an incredible group
16:49
that we're partnering with to create a
16:51
princess Sarah doll so when I don't know
16:53
about you all but when I was a kid I was
16:54
constantly looking for curly hair yes
16:57
curly hair doll
16:59
where are they right and and we're
17:01
working also on a podcast called modern
17:05
royalty interviewing cultures from
17:07
around the world other royalty and Roy
17:10
isn't that great because there are so
17:12
many of us around Japanese princesses
17:16
African princesses people Hawaii there's
17:18
a Hawaiian princess people from all over
17:21
what if we know about each other's
17:22
cultures in a deep way so we can be
17:25
deeply connected to ourselves and heal
17:27
come on podcast
17:29
I like it what's that podcast called
17:31
again modern royalty we're launching it
17:33
very soon so please stay tuned prin
17:37
Sarah cson give her a round of applause
17:39
thank you thank you thank you for having
17:41
me shout out to George who said you need
17:44
to have this princess on your show oh
17:46
yes thank you George yeah so we're do uh
17:50
anything you want to say in closing I
17:52
just want to say thank you for having me
17:53
go after your dreams know that history
17:55
and embrace your beautiful selves okay
17:58
you can find her at I am
18:02
princess yes I am princess s c follow me
18:08
follow me follow me she so cool y'all
18:10
stay great okay pleasure appreciate
18:17
you
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