This week I  sat down with the remarkable Sarajean Rossitto, a force of positive change in the nonprofit sector. With a wealth of experience and a passion for empowering communities, Sarajean shares her journey, insights, and the pivotal moments that have shaped her career.

Sarajean and I could have talked for hours. She truly is a legend of influence, impact and social change. Currently based out of Tokyo, Japan, hailing from New York State in America, with her ancestry in Italy we talk about the influence of her Italian side (which relates to my Liverpool side) on her way of being in the world, in this conversation and her commitment to hope for the USA.

Sarajean and I met in 2008 at a Career Strategy Seminar run by FEW, For Empowering Women in Japan. It was like a baptism of fire meeting her and all the other incredible women in my midst at that point and it was a pivotal event in my life. Little did we know that just 4 years later we would be the President and Vice President of the same organisation and forge a fiery and loving relationship that would endure to this day.

Not only that but we, along with another good friend whom we met at the same 2008 career seminar, would be the Ladies of honour for previous Legends, Angela Ortiz Pettas and her husband Nicholas Pettas. Seriously, you couldn’t script this stuff - all three of us met Angela through different channels too. It’s just the Ordinary Magic.

Sarajean is a courageous and committed activist, who puts her passion for social impact ahead of her own image. She is at the forefront of what needs to happen next and does not necessarily have lofty ideas about world-changing activity, but focuses on what she CAN do in her own sphere of influence and networks.

She holds lecturing positions at Temple University Japan and Sophia University largely focussed on social change initiatives. She is continually proposing new courses, based on the latest information available.

NPOs, News outlets and social impact groups all seek out Sarajean’s counsel and consultation to better serve their clients, and communities or in order to communicate correctly. I wonder how she remains hopeful, something that I sometimes have difficulty with and she explains this in the show.

I was interested in this based on her work with American politics. She does not underestimate the influence that the 38 million Americans living outside of the 50 states can have in elections and as such she works to influence and impact those voters. Much like Terri McMillan, legend of Humans who also got involved in canvassing.

Sarajean has a vim and verve that is hard to resist. She is terrific fun, a trained chef, skilled orator, actor and director and loves fiercely. Her optimism has nothing to do with toxic positivity but a firm foundation of hope and belief that small differences can have an impact that will help humans.

“I am not necessarily a happy person, but I am an excited person”

SJR

I will definitely invite Sarajean back for round 2 because we didn’t touch upon her art, the plays she has directed and appeared in and her support of and promotion of local drama groups.

Here are some gems from our conversation:

• Having skin in the game means investing myself in whatever I believe in, in a way, that I can feel proud of myself and what the outcomes are
• For me having skin in the game, is also the so-called angle, the social impact part
• You don’t have to agree with people to like them and we can like each other in different ways
• Empowerment starts at the community level. When people come together with a shared purpose, incredible things happen
• Challenges are inevitable, but they are also opportunities for growth and innovation
• Never underestimate the power of a single individual to make a difference
• Sarajean talks about something her father did for her and her sister when they were young, that stood them in good stead today also

If you enjoyed this episode and it inspired you in some way, we’d love to hear about it and know your biggest takeaway. Head over to Apple Podcasts to leave a review and we’d love it if you would come and say hi over on @sarahfuruyacreative on Instagram.

About Sarajean

An accomplished presenter and workshop facilitaror, Sarajean provides project, event and training program coordination, and advisory services for educational institutions, international organizations, nonprofit organizations, and corporations to enhance understanding, better tackle communities’ needs and have a positive social impact. Their work centers around developing skills, knowledge and effective partnerships between organizations and across borders. In Japan and elsewhere, Sarajean has worked with grassroots and international organizations on programs impacting disaster response and preparation, gender, poverty, inclusion, human rights, conflict mediation, community health, cross cultural communication, at-risk youth, gender-based violence, persons with diverse abilities, and HIV/AIDS. Sarajean currently teaches about such themes at Temple University Japan Campus and Sophia University. A life-long activist, Sarajean works with US citizens across the globe attempting to impact US policy. 

Connect with Sarajean

https://sarajeanrossitto.wordpress.com/

Connect with Sarah

LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/company/sarah-furuya-creative

Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/sarahfuruyacreative/

Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/sarahfuruyacreative

Youtube: https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCXsuS_yVT9fMHjhAylVy8-w

Note: I have decided that my listeners are not simpletons who require a certain format in order to comprehend or process the information. I’ll be assuming from now on that people can find their way round the information without a formulaic, memeified format. I know I know that we humans like things to be the same or else we can get a bit uneasy. But I thought, what if it were easy? Humans also like novelty and uniqueness. So the SFC formatting may be different each time, based on the mood in the house and also on the output of the guest.