SASHA IVORY WILKERSON

On October 15, 2023, our beloved Sasha Ivory Wilkerson laid her courageously fought battle with cancer to rest, and peacefully transitioned from this physical plane. She was surrounded by great love with family, friends, and her devoted husband Joshua by her side. A true testament to the vast and plentiful garden of love and genuine connection Sasha cultivated in our hearts, even until her final breath, she was bringing all of us together just as she did throughout her beautiful life.

Sasha was born on May 7, 1976 in Los Angeles, California. She lived there with her “Gateway” Home School community until the age of eleven when she moved to Santa Rosa, CA with her mother and brother, along with many members of her chosen family. She attended Slater Middle School and graduated from Montgomery High School, making countless lifelong friends. 

In 1998, Sasha moved to the island of Maui, a place that held so much magic for her, where she made many more lifelong friends, including Joshua, who would become her best friend, husband, and love of her life. Sasha fell in love with the aloha spirit of the island which resonated deeply with her own. After Maui, Sasha and Joshua lived together in San Francisco, Oakland, and more recently, spent over a decade living in Singapore where their horizons expanded infinitely through new friendships and frequent travel throughout Asia.

Sasha earned her bachelor’s degree, along with two teaching credentials and a master’s degree in Special Education from San Francisco State University, emphasizing physical and health impairments, and graduating magna cum laude in 2010. Sasha was passionately committed to teaching and empowering children with special needs, and spent several years teaching at the well known Bridge School in Hillsborough, CA.  She continued her teaching career in Singapore where she taught special needs students at an international elementary school. Most recently, she was in pursuit of becoming a Cranial Sacral Practitioner, while teaching English to adults and children at a language school. 

No matter where she was in the world Sasha always made great efforts to keep in touch with all her peeps! She made a loving and lasting impact on everyone in her life, whether it was hosting costume parties with friends in Singapore, conversing with strangers on her travels, listening with her whole heart to friends and family in need of her loving insight, or rallying her peeps for that next visit home. 

Sasha was a world traveler! It was one of her biggest passions in life; making memories of amazing adventures in more than 30 countries, discovering and learning about other cultures and how others lived around the globe, interacting and sharing ideas and stories, delicious food and laughter. She loved dancing, music (especially live concerts), driving, time with family, bringing loved ones together, witnessing the beauty of nature, sunsets, camping, beaches, and dance-walking!

Sasha will always be remembered for her radical authenticity, the strength with which she loved,and her ability to speak openly on any and all things. Sasha fought hard with love for others, for what truly mattered to her, and ultimately for her own life, which she never for a minute took for granted. Throughout her 47 years, she never stopped “living her life like it’s golden.”

Sasha is survived by her husband and best friend of 25 years, Joshua Knowles; her father Marc Franklin Wilkerson and stepmother Janis Wilkerson; her brother Ian Franklin Wilkerson and sister in law Shelley Tsao, step siblings - Kristie Harris & Bryan Weaver,  along with deeply beloved and much adored nephew and niece, Elijah-Jade Franklin Wilkerson and Harper-Phoenix Terry Wilkerson, and her entire Sasha Fierce friends and family. 

Sasha’s spirit is now reunited with her mother Michele Terry Newmark and other dear loved ones, she is winged and flies free.