Francine Chew: Jamaican American Yale & Harvard Alumna Talks About Access to Rowing & Being What You Can (and Can't) See

#026 - Francine Chew is a Jamaican American whose mother was a housekeeper, who attended Phillips Exeter, and who rowed as an undergraduate on the Yale Women’s Rowing Team in the 1990s and in Harvard in the early 2000s while she earned her MBA. In this episode, we talked about:

• How she got into rowing from Jamaica to Brooklyn to Phillips Exeter to Yale [7:00] 
• How rowing laid the foundation for success in life [12:00]
• How rowing at Yale taught her to stand proudly with her body, celebrate her strength, and not hide [14:07]
• Being proud of putting yourself out there, especially if you don’t see yourself in this sport [16:10]
• Barriers to entry for rowing [19:58] 
• Advice for other “non-traditional” rowers [25:19]
• Advice for future black and brown board members [31:53]
• Advice on for black and brown rowers of color on how to deal with racism [38:48]

 
… and much more.

To get in touch with Francine, please email her at francine@aya.yale.edu 

We hope that the conversation in this podcast helps us all in the rowing world -- no matter your race -- to unify the rowing sport through diversity.

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