Category: About Me

Let Me Introduce Myself

Hi everyone, my name is Aynsley Broom and I’m the person behind Sipping Koko. After much thinking and sending a poll on Instagram, I figured it would be time to share who’s behind the account. I’m a bit nervous because having anonymity has been nice and in a way safe, but since I know I’ve made Sipping Koko about being brave in who you are, this is me. My parents met in New Zealand after my mom immigrated from Samoa. They had a cute meet up and dating story, but that’s for another time. Eventually, my parents immigrated to the States in the 90s and lived in Texas for few years before moving to Kansas where my sister and I were born. After a few years, we moved to Arkansas for my dad’s job, and that’s where I grew up. I grew up in a predominantly white town. To explain the demographic, it used to be known as a sundown town. A place where if you were a POC you would need to leave before sundown. However, there have been changes, and I do love the people there because, to be honest, they became family. My parents did a great job at always finding a community for my sister and I. Even though we didn’t have any blood relatives around us, we were able to have “family” around us. No one ever treated us differently, at least from what I remember. There were spots in my life that were weird like being asked if I was oreo or a little boy saying he couldn’t date me because I was a different color. That little boy ended up growing up to be one of my great friends who I could rely on, but that’s all that I could remember. It’s hard to explain in written word, but I always felt like I didn’t fit in as well there.