‘We now feel proud to be mixed’: the blessings and biases of being biracial

What does it really mean to be mixed race today? When Nicole Ocran met Emma Slade Edmondson they discovered an instant bond in their shared experience

Emma Slade Edmondson and Nicole Ocran are doing what they do best: riffing. Theirs is a comfortable, free-flowing conversational volleying, the result of countless hours spent together recording their award-winning podcast, Mixed Up. Ocran is logging in to our interview from her bedroom in Croydon; fellow Londoner Slade Edmondson from Paris. After brief introductions, they quickly find their rhythm, talking – as they so often do together – about the experience of being mixed race.

“I came to the podcast totally unsure of myself,” Ocran is explaining, by way of introduction. Her co-host nods in agreement. “I was sensitive to other people’s reactions towards me and worried about what I could or should say and where. It was such a rare thing for me to open up about being mixed. So often, in the spaces I’m in, it’s met with some pushback, judgment or dismissal.”