A Spring reset.
At The Table With: Shambrekia Wise, Sandiya Badmus and Sarina Wagle, the Women Behind “Sightseeing With Sandy”
Name: Shambrekiá Nicole Wise, Sandiya Badmus & Sarina Wagle
Preferred Name: Sham, Sandy & Sarina
Pronouns: her/hers/she
Favorite Sur La Table Kitchen Tool: Why do I have to choose?! It’s like a toy store! But I think If I could walk away with anything, it would be the Breville Juice Fountain XL Pro. I love buying healthy juices, but I am pretty sure I can do that at home and way cheaper.
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If you could take your child anywhere in the world–money, time and work commitments being non-issues, of course–where would you go?
Would you hop a plane to Paris to marvel at the Eiffel Tower? Or maybe head south to the Bahamas or Jamaica for some much-needed sun and sand? What about exploring the pyramids and ruins of Ancient Egypt?
Well, if you ask Shamrekia Wise and her daughter, Sandiya, they’d probably reply, “why not all three?”
And thanks to their children’s book series, “Sightseeing With Sandy,” this mother-daughter duo are taking families on globally-inspired adventures all over the world. Whether soaking up the sun in the Caribbean or the deserts of North Africa, Sandy and her friends learn about history, architecture, cultural stories and, probably our favorite part, cuisines.
“Six years ago, me and my mom traveled to California for one of her business trips.” Sandy tells us. “I didn’t see a lot of kids on the plane, and I asked my mom why. She told me that traveling was a privilege and not everyone gets to do it.
I told her that wasn’t fair, and I told her she needed to “fix” it. Since she said no to sending everyone on a trip, I agreed that she could write children’s stories (after I asked if she was too old to write them). We had so much fun with the first one, we knew we had to do more!”
“I totally agree with what Sandy said,” Shambrekia adds.
“She was a very outspoken and observant little person, and she often used that
trait to take care of other people. That trip was no different and because of her observation, we have been able to provide parts of the world to over a 1000 kids and families since we started our series. She is the inspiration behind our adventures, and we have created every single story together.
Through our creations, I believe she has learned a respect for cultures outside of what we found in our backyard.”
That ‘backyard’ was a town on the border between Texas and Arkansas, aptly named “Texarkana.” It’s a far stretch from the hustling bustling city they call home now–Chicago–but for Sandy and Shambrekia, it’s where their adventures first started.
“It’s not a big city,” Sandy explains, “but most of my mom’s family lives
there or very close by. I love nature and playing outside, and right by my Nana’s, there was a wooded area where we would explore daily. On our adventures, we would often find really cool bugs, butterflies, and even tracks from different animals.”
“I grew up in a small town called Lewisville, Arkansas – not far at all from Texarkana- and I loved it,” Shambrekia tells us.
“I was an only child, but I was blessed to have not only my grandparents around, but I also had my two great grandmothers and one great great grandmother. While my mother worked a regular 9-5, I spent my days learning life’s most valuable lessons from these women.
I honor each of them with every page I write and every idea I come up with.”
And that is especially true for Shambrekia and Sandy when reflecting on Women’s History Month or celebrating International Women’s Day. As Shambrekia tells us:
“I absolutely feel like my path was paved with stones I can’t begin to pick up and carry on my own.
This month reminds me to celebrate my friends, my family and those women who I admire professionally while also honoring those who are no longer here.
It also serves as a reminder for me to set the best example I can for my little one because I know she is watching EVERYTHING I do, and I want her to be proud of me. I love her more than anything and I hope I have made her proud.”
Sandy, however, wants women everywhere to know they’re valued and important, no matter how small their contributions may seem.
“It doesn’t have to be anything that cost a lot of money for it to be an important change, but even seeing the good that women do for their communities and neighborhood is special.
Women doing good things can be celebrated every day, but especially this month. Everybody can make a difference.”
With “Sightseeing With Sandy,” Shambrekia and her daughter are helping families discover and learn about new cultures together. And they’re helping get kids interested in cooking in the kitchen, something Shambrekia herself says was challenging as a new parent.
“In 2016, the Huffington Post reported that while 96% of parents in the U.S. feel it’s important that kids know how to cook or bake, only 47% cook with their kids monthly. That number falls to 33% when you consider how many parents cook with their kids weekly!
I can’t even pretend that I’m shocked because I was these parents! I felt for the longest that she was too little to be in the kitchen, but Sur la Table proved me wrong last month. [Sandy’s] helped with easy things in the past, but I saw how serious she took her role in the kitchen during her classes and now I have to let her help me. Especially with lasagna and pesto pull-a-part knots!
I love sharing our recipes because not only are they relatively easy and overall affordable for most, they get kids together with their families and
allow room for creativity!
Our entire series is family and friends-focused, so this type of togetherness, whether you are reading the book, cooking the food or playing our boardgame, we want families to appreciate the cultural importance found on each page and we want something that can be made special for each person.”
And thanks to her collaboration with her Director of Marketing–a senior at Southern Methodist University–Sarina Wagle, Shambrekia’s been able to grow her “Sightseeing With Sandy” beyond what she had ever imagined.
“I found Sarina through a matching program that was hosted by her college. Local businesses could team up with the school and interview candidates who seemed to be a great match for their organization’s needs.
She was a Godsend. She was multifaceted, dependable, fun, intelligent and she had the ability to see a vision that my mind was not wired to see. Her talents helped us in so many ways and while she’s moved on, she left us with so many gems.
Because I saw her value early, I refused to refer to her as my intern. After only a few weeks, I changed her title to my Director of Marketing because her hard work and her dedication earned her every part of that title and I wanted her next employer to know the type of person they were hiring without question.
I couldn’t be prouder of who she is and who she has grown into.”
The admiration, it appears, is very much mutual.
“From my perspective,” Sarina starts, “during my first year at SMU I was involved in the Career Accelerator Program (CAP), where our involvement was for the purpose of securing an internship during the summer after our freshman year.
I submitted my resume at the time, not having much professional experience under my belt, and Shambrekia was the greatest gift at the time and followed up with me. I quickly started working with her and Sandy and learned so much about not only the industry, but how to be a business professional overall.
Sham always took the time to teach me and educate me on how to advocate for myself and ensure I am getting the most out of every opportunity. Still to this day, she has been the greatest mentor and cheerleader to me in every phase of my career and personal life.”
The respect, love and appreciation between these women translates directly to the books themselves.
When asked which of the books in the “Sightseeing With Sandy” series was her favorite, Shambrekia replied, “Ugh! Still a tough one. I love them all but that book (The Festivals of Holi & Hola Mohalla) was awesome and the way I made sure we immersed ourselves in the culture so we could have a genuine perspective was the best opportunity I think I could have given either of us.
Sarina and my friend Nishan were so supportive during this book’s creation, and I was so honored they allowed me to share moments of their family and memories of their childhood in our book.”
Sandy and Sarina also agree.
As Sarina explains, “The Festivals of Holi & Hola Mohalla has to be the book that stole a piece of my heart!
Shambrekia started working on this book and talking about it so long ago, it is so surreal that everyone has access now! When I started working for Sightseeing with Sandy my freshman year, my sister, Ashna, had passed away just two months prior, so when Shambrekia discussed with me her idea for my sister and I as well as my parents to be characters in the book, I melted.
It was so healing to see representation for not only my community, but also for my sister.”
And as for Sandy: “The Festivals of Holi & Hola Mohalla!” she exclaims.
“I loved this book! For this book, we really got to be hands-on. First, we had the best day ever at an actual Holi Festival. It was so fun and so beautiful and we got SOOOOOOO messy, but we didn’t care! The music was awesome, and the food was perfect.
The next day we went to an actual Gurdwara to meet with the Sikh people and interview one of the head leaders at the church. They were very nice, and they even allowed us to stay for lunch. We learned beautiful things about their culture, which helped us write our book.
One of my mom’s friends inspired this book and we put him and his brother in there, but when we met Sarina, she made the book complete because we got to put her family in there too and telling the story with her and her sister as my friends in the book was awesome.”
When it comes to who they call ‘family,’ that’s another thing all three women agree on.
For Shamrekia, “anyone who fills our souls, and on occasion, our cups, is family to me.”
For Sarina: “I have no list of those I call family, but those who are, are the people that have picked me up time after time and given me strength to continue. My family are the people who believe in me, even when I have no clear direction at the time. They instill confidence in me and support me through all the seasons of life.
And for Sandy, family means “that I don’t have to be related to know I’m loved by others, no matter how far apart we may be.”
Hungry for more? You can join Sandy on all of her adventures by picking up your favorite in the Sightseeing With Sandy series, available on e-book and paperback from Amazon. Or check out their website for even more adventures and culturally-inspired recipes!
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