About Sharon

Sharon K. Sobotta is a journalist, an educator, and a world traveler. At the age of 17, she was the recipient of a Kikkoman soy sauce scholarship, which sent her from rural Wisconsin to Japan. Since then, Sharon has been a lifelong globetrotter: volunteering, interviewing people, living alongside locals, and taking up temporary roots wherever she goes. 

Sharon continually takes the road less traveled to capture the stories of people from all walks of life―stories that run the gamut from familiar to unexpected. From the everyday struggles that men and women experience with relationships and love, to the societal impact of xenophobia, Islamophobia, racism and sexism, there is no issue Sharon is unwilling to tackle. a field reporter for Pacifica and FSRN Radio, Sharon has been on the ground covering stories ranging from the Justice for Oscar Grant Movement in the streets of Oakland, California to elections in the remote village of Ubud, Bali, Indonesia. 

In her debut book , The Journey of Life: 100 Lessons from Around the World, weaves the human experience into a collection of universally applicable lessons, allowing wealthy entrepreneurs, successful musicians and homeless people from all nationalities, ethnicities, genders and backgrounds to transcend their differences. 

When Sharon is not traveling, reporting or writing, she serves as the Director of the Women's Resource Center at St. Mary's College of California, where she strives to inspire people to imagine a world that is equitable and violence-free. She also facilitates intergenerational, intercultural writing workshops to give people a vehicle for sharing their stories and teaches various genres of dance as a platform for experiencing culture.