Color Shift: Transracial Adoptees

For much of his life, Patrick Armstrong believed he had a fairly positive adoption experience. Raised in Indianapolis after being adopted from Korea, he spent decades navigating racial isolation while completely rejecting an important part of his identity—without fully realizing the impact it was having on him. After dropping out of college, Patrick spent years traveling in search of purpose and t...

In this episode of Color Shift , we sit down with Lily , a Thai adoptee whose journey spans continents, recovery, and self-discovery. Born in Bangkok and spending her early years in foster care, Lily was adopted at age four by a white American family in Pennsylvania. Growing up in a home where she never felt a true sense of connection, she spent years searching for belonging and understanding her...

In this episode of Color Shift: Transracial Adoptees , Maya shares her experience as a Cambodian adoptee raised by LGBTQ moms in Maine before eventually settling in Pennsylvania. Maya reflects on growing up at the intersection of adoption, race, and family, and how those experiences have shaped her sense of identity over time. The conversation also explores her recent journey into family research,...

  For this episode of Color Shift , Nathan sits down with Sarah Myer, the acclaimed Korean American comic artist, author, and illustrator behind the award-winning graphic memoir Monstrous: A Transracial Adoption Story. Adopted from South Korea and raised in rural Maryland by a white family, Sarah shares the deeply personal experiences that shaped both their identity and creative voice. Through con...

  In this episode of Color Shift: Transracial Adoptees , Luciana shares her experience growing up as an Indonesian adoptee in rural East Texas, navigating identity, belonging, and the feeling of being “othered” in a conservative environment. She reflects on family complexity, racial awakening, and the process of “coming out of the fog” as she began recognizing how adoption and race shaped her live...

Vinh  was born in Vietnam, with Cambodian roots, and adopted into an Icelandic, Danish, and Swedish family, where he was raised in Sweden. Growing up across multiple cultures, Vinh carried a deep curiosity about his origins—one that stayed with him for years and ultimately led him to begin searching for his birth family.  Without support from any formal systems or government resources, Vinh’s sear...

Tara was adopted as a baby from Lake Charles, Louisiana by white Mormon parents and raised in Utah with seven siblings—three biological to her adoptive parents and four adopted from different families. In 2018, she reunited with her biological family and discovered she had one full biological brother and one half-brother. Unfortunately, her biological father had passed away before she could meet h...

In this episode of Color Shift , we’re joined by Renee, a Korean adoptee born in Daegu in 1976 and brought to the United States in 1977. Renee’s adoption story, as she shares, isn’t a simple one—and it’s one she’s willing to speak about fully, with honesty, care, and deep intention. Renee opens up about the complexities of her experience and the ways it has shaped her identity, relationships, and...

April joins the show to share her story of growing up as a Black/biracial adoptee navigating identity, belonging, and family in predominantly white spaces. Relinquished at birth in Massachusetts, April spent her earliest months in temporary foster care before being placed in a foster-to-adopt home in Rhode Island. By the age of two, she was adopted into a white family with three biological childre...

In this episode of Color Shift , Nathan sits down with Amy, a Black transracial adoptee who was adopted at just two months old and primarily raised by a single white mother in Rhode Island. Amy reflects on what it was like growing up in a predominantly white environment and how those early experiences shaped her understanding of identity, race, and belonging. Amy speaks candidly about her adoption...

Patrick (“Pat”) was adopted from Vietnam at six months old and raised in Central Pennsylvania, just outside of Harrisburg, where he still lives today. At sixteen, he returned to Vietnam on a motherland tour with his adoption agency — a trip that would profoundly shape his understanding of his own story. During that visit, he met his birth mother for the first time. His birth father had already pas...

In this episode, Nathan sits down with Hasina, a transracial adoptee born in Dhaka, Bangladesh in 1977. With little known about her birth story, Hasina spent her earliest years in an orphanage before being adopted at age three by a white Canadian family and raised on a farm outside of London, Ontario. Hasina shares what it was like growing up in isolation, navigating identity without mirrors, and...

In this special episode of Color Shift, we have invited a panel of guest to talk about their experiences at Camp Rice.  A Korean Culture camp hosted by Asia Families.  Hyn and Monica attended Camp Rice last year as "campers" for the first time.  They report that their experience and time there was nothing short of life changing, rejuvenating and much needed.  Hollee had the incredible ta...

In this episode of Color Shift , we’re joined by Steven, a Vietnamese adoptee who grew up in Wyoming and has returned to Vietnam several times as an adult. Steven reflects on transracial adoption, identity, and what it means to reconnect with a place that holds both history and possibility. We also talk about Adoptive Threads , a project Steven created to support adoptee-led organizations and prov...

Most of the time, I would have a nice info here for the show notes about the guest.  Well, this time, I am keeping short and sweet.  The guest this week is none other than myself, Nate Choi.  I am also happy to introduce my long time friend Jeremy.  Jeremy did an amazing job interviewing and being such a respectful host for this episode.  This episode was scary, hard, wonderful and amazing.  I tea...

Karasalla was born in Hawaiʻi, mixed Samoan and Black, and entered the foster care system before her first birthday. She was later adopted by a white, conservative family in Oregon, where she grew up navigating questions of race, identity, and belonging—often without the language or mirrors to fully understand her experience. In this episode of Color Shift , Karasalla reflects on what it meant to...

In this episode, Alejandra shares her journey as a Guatemalan adoptee raised in the predominately white suburbs of Baltimore. Adopted at 15 months old, Alejandra always knew she was adopted — but knowing didn’t mean understanding. From growing up without Spanish to navigating a childhood where no one looked like her, she reflects on the quiet but constant reminders of difference that shaped her id...

Episode Description – Jacob: When Adoption Breaks Down In this episode of Color Shift , host Nathan Choi talks with Jacob , who shares a powerful and often overlooked side of adoption — what happens when an adoptive placement doesn’t last. Adopted from Ethiopia at age two and raised in Brisbane, Jacob spent his early childhood in an Australian family until, at age eleven, he was handed over to the...

Episode Description: In this episode of Color Shift , Nathan sits down with Claire , a Korean adoptee, empowerment coach, and somatic practitioner. Claire shares her journey of reconnection—how exploring the body’s wisdom helped her navigate questions of identity, belonging, and healing as a transracial adoptee. Together, they talk about what it means to move beyond survival, reclaim voice, and fi...

In this episode of Color Shift: Transracial Adoptees, Nathan sits down with Kae (she/they), an adoptee with Indonesian roots who was adopted at birth in the U.S. Kae opens up about what it means to unpack adoption later in life — even when you have a “good” relationship with your adoptive parents. From the emotional process of changing her name to the silence that came after reaching out to biolog...

In this episode of Color Shift , host Nathan Choi sits down with Fai , a Vietnamese and White adoptee who grew up in small-town Pennsylvania as the only Asian kid around. Adopted at just one month old, Fai’s race and adoption were rarely acknowledged at home — leaving them to navigate questions of identity and belonging mostly on their own. It wasn’t until college that Fai began to “come out of th...

In this episode of Color Shift , we sit down with Ezra , a Korean adoptee who was adopted at six months old and grew up in Indianapolis inside a strict, isolating bubble. With no access to peers, friends, or other adoptees, Ezra was raised under the belief that “if you don’t make it a big deal, it won’t be a big deal.” That silence around his adoption created distance with his adoptive parents and...

In this episode, I sit down with Keith , a transracial and late discovery adoptee who learned at age 33 that he was adopted. As the only adopted child in a family of six, Keith’s world shifted when he uncovered the truth about his beginnings—and later discovered he was one of eight biological siblings, most of whom were adopted into separate families. Keith shares the complexities of reunion, incl...

In this episode of Color Shift , we sit down with Abby , a Chinese adoptee who has recently begun the vulnerable process of “coming out of the fog.” Abby was supposedly found as an infant at a train station in China and adopted to Alaska at about 14 months old. Growing up as an only child in a family that traveled and lived internationally, she always knew she was adopted—but for years, she distan...

 In this episode, we sit down with Rob, a Korean adoptee raised in Denver, Colorado. Rob shares his adoption story, from his early months in foster care to growing up in a family that embraced openness and love. He talks about starting his birth family search as a teenager, the relationships that have grown from that journey, and the powerful role Heritage Camps for Adoptive Families has played in...