Sarah Culberson

Sarah Culberson was born in Morgantown, West Virginia to an African father and a white mother. As an infant, she was given up to foster care, adopted by a loving white family, and grew up contemplating her identity and her biracial roots.

In early childhood, Culberson fell in love with theatre and later won an acting scholarship to attend West Virginia University. She earned her MFA at The American Conservatory Theatre in San Francisco and joined the Los Angeles acting community. She has since been acting on stage, in film, and on television, appearing in such shows as Strong Medicine, All of Us, Boston Legal, The Secret Life of the American Teenager, and in the film American Dreamz. She also guest dances with the professional Afro-Cuban salsa dance company Contra-Tiempo.

However, her biggest role came when she decided to locate her birth parents. After learning that her biological mother had died when she was just 11, Culberson discovered that her father lived in a village in Sierra Leone, West Africa. She learned that she is from a royal family, a Mahaloi, the granddaughter of a Paramount Chief, with the status of a Princess. She also learned of the difficulties and privations of the people in Sierra Leone resulting from a brutal eleven-year Civil War that ended in 2002.

The discovery of her unique heritage changed her life forever. Now, as co-founder and president of The Kposowa Foundation (www.bumpefund.org) in Los Angeles, she and many others work to rebuild and provide opportunity for the people of Sierra Leone, and to improve education for the country’s youth. Culberson’s story has been featured nationally and internationally through such media as BBC radio, NPR, “Oprah and Friends” radio show, Singapore News, Los Angeles Times, Chicago Tribune, Reader's Digest, Newsweek, People, Glamour and United Kingdom Glamour. She has also appeared on Good Morning America, CNN, Inside Edition, The Naomi Judd Show and more. She wrote A Princess Found, a book about her African roots and her pursuit to learn of her heritage.

In addition to raising awareness about Sierra Leone, Culberson speaks nationally and internationally, sharing her inspirational journey to find her birth father in a war torn country. She continues to inspire young people and adults to overcome their fears, take on their dreams, and to learn about the children in Sierra Leone.