Check Out Sodah Minty’s Story

Today we’d like to introduce you to Sodah Minty.

Hi Sodah, can you start by introducing yourself? We’d love to learn more about how you got to where you are today?
I identify as an immigrant, a Muslim woman, she/her pronouns, cisgender, able-bodied, and privileged in many ways in my legal marriage and citizenship. I was born and raised in apartheid South Africa, a world defined by race and segregation. We moved to Ojai, California in 1994. We landed in Ojai because my mother was a foreign exchange high school student in Ojai and wanted to one day have a family in that small town. It was hard to grow up in a small town being so different. I remember a kid in high school asked me if I rode an elephant to school every day when we lived in Africa. I remember wishing I could anglicize my name and just fit in and not be noticed as different. I’m sad and angry for my younger self, who considered washing away her identity to fit in. As an adult, more connected to my evolving identities, I see that desire as a byproduct of colonization. Most of my family still lives in South Africa. As an adult, I crave more connection to the place where my family has lived for five generations. After completing my doctorate and clinical hours on the East Coast, my partner and I moved to Los Angeles. I am now a licensed psychologist, and my family’s history of oppression and my experiences living in this country inform everything I do as a mental health provider.

I’m sure it wasn’t obstacle-free, but would you say the journey has been fairly smooth so far?
Our immigration to California was a beautiful and painful road, and the world events that have transpired since our move have heightened my identity (and made it harder for my family and I to “fit in”). Living in a predominantly white town in post-911 America, was not easy. We felt our differences all over again. I’m proud of my parents, who wanted to give us a life with more opportunity than we had as segregated people in South Africa. I am blessed to have friends who protect me and make me feel safe and loved – my chosen family. As an adult, professional, and activist, I have a new and complicated relationship with California, specifically Los Angeles.

Appreciate you sharing that. What else should we know about what you do?
My identity, my family’s history, and my experiences in life shape everything I do in my work as a psychologist. I can’t sit with another person without considering the context in which they find themselves today, what informs their worldview, and what barriers they face daily. We live in a world where only certain types of emotional pain are validated. The message I received (and so many I serve in my practice) is that I should hide parts of myself in order to be accepted. In my work, I try to untangle these internalized messages- that we need to “do better” and “be successful” because these messages have made me feel not only inadequate but implied that there is “something wrong” with me. My relationships with my patients, my activist community, my colleagues and friends is what brings meaning and hope to my life. I dedicated my clinical practice to those of us who have been told they have to be a certain way not only to fit in but to thrive. I tell all of my patients, as I tell myself, “You are not the problem”.

If we knew you growing up, how would we have described you?
Shy, artistic, loved animals.

Contact Info:

• Website: https://drsodahminty.com/
• Linkedin: https://www.linkedin.com/in/sodahminty/

Image Credits
photos of me: https://danyajeanphotography.com/