GREAT FALLS — The start of 2023 was the beginning of a new adventure for Shari Leid. Adopted from South Korea to Japanese-Americans in the Seattle area, Leid grew up with a subconscious view on how the United States viewed her and her family.
Leid explained, “I didn't realize this until I got older, but they've kind of adopted the belief that, especially my dad, that we're not welcome everywhere in the U.S. So we stayed to the West Coast and I wanted to really change that belief for myself and travel."
The willingness to change this belief was the motivation to start the 50 states project. In the span of 9 months, starting in January, Leid will meet with 50 women, one woman per state, and have a conversation with them over a meal. The goal of the conversation is to make a connection and find similarities with one another.
“All these conversations are really organic. Initially people sometimes think I'm interviewing, but really I'm not. It's about trying to find connection and seeing if I could plant a seed of friendship through sharing a meal with a woman that you don't really know in every state,” Leid explained.
Montana was the 37th state Leid has visited this year and she met with fine art photographer Rhonda Addison of Great Falls. The pair first met more than 20 years ago when Leid purchased one of Addison’s photographs. The pair spent an evening at Addison’s home in Great Falls overlooking the Missouri River and eating Addison’s husbands “cowboy steaks."
Addison spoke highly of the experience stating Leid was “wonderful” and she had felt like no time had passed since their last encounter two decades ago.
Leid expressed she has a new love for the country and had learned many lessons along the way. “The woman I met with in Virginia said it the best. She said, you get what you're looking for. I think that if we're looking for differences, we're going to find them. If we're looking for the things that can connect us, we'll find those and those are a lot easier and a lot more fun to work with”.
Leid will finish her 50 states project in Nebraska and plans to write a book of her experience in the future. She also plans to put together a zoom call all 50 women can be a part of and share their experience with one another. Leid recommends anyone wanting to follow in her footsteps to get started in their own community.
“I'm 53. As we get older, a lot of times we stop trying to make new connections. Instead of being sad as you get older that you're losing everyone, you think, Wow, this is the great thing about getting older, I have an opportunity to meet more people and the value of meeting younger people as well. So I think to start this, if somebody want to start this, it can be started in your own community and I will tell you from experience, it gets easier to ask people to sit down and share a meal with you as you go along” Leid explained.
To follow Leid’s journey you can check out her Instagram by clicking here; to check out Addison's art, click here.
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