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Sasha
Kutabah Sarago

Founder of Ascension Media

She/Her

Profile

Sasha Kutabah Sarago is a Wadjanbarra Yidinji, Jirrbal and African-American woman.

A former model, Sasha grew frustrated by the invisibility of multicultural women in fashion and media. In 2011, she founded Ascension, Australia’s first digital lifestyle platform for women of colour. As a speaker, Sasha raises awareness around culture, diversity and equity in the business, media and lifestyle sectors.

Sasha’s TEDx talk, ‘The (de)colonising of beauty’, was selected as TED.com 2021 Editor’s Choice and has fuelled her passion for redefining beauty and sparking conversations around femininity and womanhood from a First Nations woman’s perspective.

As well as appearances on NITV Awaken ‘Black Is Beautiful’, SBS Insight ‘Growing Up Mixed Race’, and ABC TV’s The School That Tried to End Racism, Sasha has featured in BuzzFeed, Huffington Post, 10 Daily, Sydney Morning Herald, Frankie and Fashion Journal magazines and her writing has been published in the Guardian and SBS Voices. Sasha has also written and directed the documentaries Too Pretty to Be Aboriginal and InsideOUT, which premiered at the Melbourne Women’s Film Festival 2020.

Her first book Gigorou, published in 2023, explores First Nations Beauty and Womanhood. In a time where the patriarchy obstructs women from the divine feminine, and sexism, racism and ageism violate our sovereignty, Gigorou invites us to explore the interconnectedness of Aboriginal culture to resolve our relationship with beauty and ourselves.

Expertise
Talking Points

Authenticity is the Blueprint

Sasha Kutabah Sarago knows the challenges of turning frustration into inspiration. In 2011, Sasha launched Ascension ” Australia's first digital lifestyle platform for women of colour. Stepping into the world of entrepreneurship without a blueprint, Sasha shares her start-up journey, taking you behind the scenes: how to turn passion into solutions, having the audacity to take up space and creating a business that evolves with you.

Set Your Pace. Win Your Race.

Is the story you're telling yourself letting someone else set the pace in your life or business? We can get swept up in the day-to-day operations of our business or simply trying to balance our sense of self, family and relationships.

The stories we tell ourselves profoundly impact what goals we create and the pace we set to achieve them. But if they are not authentic and do not serve us, why do we possess them?
Media
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