This year I decided to introduce a new feature on the site, Diva of the Month. This section will focus on fabulous women who embody what Adventures in Divaland is all about - fun, fly, fearless, and global! This month's Diva is none other than Ms. Sabrina Thompson. Look familiar? Chances are you have seen her on the current season of Survivor, or maybe you've seen your favorite celebrity rock some of her amazing jewelry from her company Beanpye (www.beanpye.com). Sabrina is the epitome of a diva, when she's not kicking s$$ on a deserted island, you can catch her teaching in Brooklyn or running an event for the Women in Entertainment Empowerment Network (WEEN, www.weenonline.org), an organization she Co-Founded to help empower women and young girls of colors. Be sure to follow Sabrina at @IamSabrinaT on twitter, be sure to use the hashtag #teamsabrina. Check out our interview below! Until next time
Ciao Bellas :)
Sabrina:
Traveling is the best educational
tool that any human can give themselves in their lifetime. It's important
because it forces you to see other cultures first hand versus reading some book
about foreign territory. It definitely opens up my eyes to how people live and it can alleviate
egocentric notions that I and many Americans may have.
Diva: How do you feel traveling the world and being
a contestant on Survivor has impacted your life?
Sabrina:
Traveling the world and
being a contestant on Survivor has impacted me in such a colossal way that I
have set a lofty goal to open up a traveling academy for disadvantage
teens. I want them to travel 2-3 continents per year and expose them to
various elements, cultures and "what would you do" situations similar
to Survivor. I believe traveling would increase their critical thinking
skills, which many teens lack, and it would give them more purpose in their
lives. In addition, Survivor has taught me that life is too short to not
see the world and take risks.
Diva: What's the best travel memory you have?
Sabrina:
Although I have traveled the world, the best
travel memories hands down is when my father would pileup our van and trek our entire family
all over the United States
so that I could compete in track and field meets. One year when I
was eleven, there were too many of my teammates to pile into my family’s van,
so 31 kids got on a bus and traveled from the coast of NC
to Seattle, Washington. I remember hitting every
state along the way and seeing the American landscape change by the hour.
Diva: What’s your favorite country (or city) in the world
and why?
Sabrina:
Although I love my tremendously diverse city of Brooklyn,
NY, the place I adore is Marrakesh, Morocco.
Where else I could ride camels on the beach and have water on one side while
sand dunes are on the other side. Simply stunning! The food, wine,
music and shopping was truly out of this world!
Diva: As an educator, how do you feel the lives of
our youth can be impacted by a global education?
Sabrina:
Great question! Teens will get to see
how other teens live in other countries and realize that their life in America, no matter how crappy it
may seem, is like a gold mine compared to other people around theworld. I teach two courses of
World Cultures in which I introduce one new country each week. The kids
show up on time and I literally have to kick them out when the bell rings
because they are amazingly intrigued by the world images and/or customs from
other countries. Whether they tell you or not, they have a yearning to see the world beyond their
neighborhood and they are lost as to how they can actually do that. I am simply
a vessel to show them that one can travel around the world in a cheap, safe and
fun manner. I should know…I do it all the time.
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