In this episode, I talk with Marcela, a Chilean adoptee who was adopted at one month old and raised in Massachusetts by a white American family. Without connection to her culture or heritage growing up, Marcela always felt something was missing. That changed in 2019 when she found and reunited with her birth mother in Chile. We talk about what reunion has meant to her, how it's shaped her understanding of identity, and how it's influenced the way she thinks about becoming a mother one day.

TikTok : https://www.tiktok.com/@marcellamaybe?_t=ZT-8y3q5mJm7D5&_r=1

Insta: https://www.instagram.com/littleholyspirits?igsh=MTNycmVnenNzdjYwaA==

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Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/color_shift_tra?igsh=em5ka3hkMXJxODA5

TicTok: https://www.tiktok.com/@colorshifttransra?_t=ZP-8wOIvdcK7ah&_r=1

Merch: Color Shift 1.0 by Nathan Choi – Adoptive Threads

If you are interested in supporting this podcast please go to the listener support page: https://www.buzzsprout.com/2502012/support

If you are a transracial adoptee and want to share your story email me at: transracialadoptionstories@gmail.com

Kellan's Journey Through Adoption and Queer Identity

In this episode of Color Shift, Kellan shares their story of being adopted from China to the UK and raised in a white family and community. They reflect on the complexities of identity, silence, and survival that shaped their early years—and the deep healing work they’ve done since. Kellan speaks openly about what it means to reclaim space as a queer, transracial adoptee, and how building community with other adoptees and queer folks has been essential to their growth. This conversation is honest, grounding, and a powerful reminder of the importance of telling our own stories.

Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/kaimingholistics/?hl=en

Website: https://KaiMingHolistics.as.me/

Support the show

Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/color_shift_tra?igsh=em5ka3hkMXJxODA5

TicTok: https://www.tiktok.com/@colorshifttransra?_t=ZP-8wOIvdcK7ah&_r=1

Merch: Color Shift 1.0 by Nathan Choi – Adoptive Threads

If you are interested in supporting this podcast please go to the listener support page: https://www.buzzsprout.com/2502012/support

If you are a transracial adoptee and want to share your story email me at: transracialadoptionstories@gmail.com

Hannah was born in Kansas City to a white birth mother and Black birth father, and adopted into a white family in Pennsylvania. Raised in a community where no one looked like her, Hannah’s early years were marked by isolation, a lack of racial mirrors, and a longing to understand where she came from. In this episode, she shares what it was like to grow up feeling disconnected from her Black identity, how her search for belonging led her through music, literature, and eventually into the embrace of her racial community.

We talk about the moment everything shifted—an unexpected meeting with her birth mother during a visit to Kansas City—and how that encounter cracked open deeper questions around origin, identity, and healing. Now an educator, mother, and advocate, Hannah supports transracial adoptees and adoptive parents through her coaching work, online course, and writing.

This conversation explores the complexity of being raised in a world that doesn’t reflect you, the layered grief that comes with reunion, and the power of reclaiming your story on your own terms.

Hannah's website: https://www.hannahjmatthews.com/ — where folks can find my course as well as products and services for adoptees and caregivers

Podcast with my adopted Brother https://rss.com/podcasts/fakesiblingspodcast/

Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/hannahjacksonmatthews?igsh=MWNtY2JkMzZ2enZhNA%3D%3D&utm_source=qr

Workbook https://www.amazon.com/Standing-Gap-Unapologetic-Reflective-Transracial/dp/B0CVVD11DP

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Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/color_shift_tra?igsh=em5ka3hkMXJxODA5

TicTok: https://www.tiktok.com/@colorshifttransra?_t=ZP-8wOIvdcK7ah&_r=1

Merch: Color Shift 1.0 by Nathan Choi – Adoptive Threads

If you are interested in supporting this podcast please go to the listener support page: https://www.buzzsprout.com/2502012/support

If you are a transracial adoptee and want to share your story email me at: transracialadoptionstories@gmail.com

In this episode, Nathan sits down with Saskia, a Chilean adoptee raised in a predominantly white town in New Jersey after being adopted at just two and a half months old. As the only girl and only adoptee in a family with three biological brothers, Saskia grew up surrounded by the narrative that adoption was something to be grateful for. But as she got older, questions about her origins led her to a years-long search, a surprising Facebook message, and an emotional reunion that would shift everything—including a pivotal moment you'll hear about later in the episode. Saskia shares her journey through identity, reconnection, and the upcoming return to Chile that marks a new chapter in reclaiming her story.

Tiktok: @spicychile

The poem she wrote in school:

Individual

I am from the mother who I don’t know anything about.
I am from the father who doesn’t know I exist.
I am from a family that is make-believe to me.

I am in a family where I am an outsider,
An outsider who looks different in every way possible.
I am from the place that is imaginary to me.

Dreams of being back in Chile being with my biological mother
Floating all through my head.
Wondering, wondering what she is like,
How we are similar,
Or if I could ever meet her again.

I am the one who sticks out like a big bright moon in the dark starry sky.
I am like the flower in the field that sticks out from everything else.

I am from the dreams of being with her
As if our lives were perfect side by side,
But those dreams will never come true
For I am the unknown individual.

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Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/color_shift_tra?igsh=em5ka3hkMXJxODA5

TicTok: https://www.tiktok.com/@colorshifttransra?_t=ZP-8wOIvdcK7ah&_r=1

Merch: Color Shift 1.0 by Nathan Choi – Adoptive Threads

If you are interested in supporting this podcast please go to the listener support page: https://www.buzzsprout.com/2502012/support

If you are a transracial adoptee and want to share your story email me at: transracialadoptionstories@gmail.com

Nicky Hammond is a Korean Australian adoptee, coach, and breathworker who helps intercountry adoptees reconnect with identity and community. In this episode, she shares her journey from growing up in a white Australian family to rediscovering her heritage, living in Seoul, and creating healing spaces for fellow adoptees.

Links and info for Nicky:

Nicky@coachscoach.co

IG Handle: Coachscoach.co

Website: www.coachscoach.co

Support the show

Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/color_shift_tra?igsh=em5ka3hkMXJxODA5

TicTok: https://www.tiktok.com/@colorshifttransra?_t=ZP-8wOIvdcK7ah&_r=1

Merch: Color Shift 1.0 by Nathan Choi – Adoptive Threads

If you are interested in supporting this podcast please go to the listener support page: https://www.buzzsprout.com/2502012/support

If you are a transracial adoptee and want to share your story email me at: transracialadoptionstories@gmail.com

In this preview episode, host Nathan Choi introduces Color Shift: Transracial Adoptees — a podcast created by and for transracial adoptees, and for anyone who wants to understand us better. Nathan shares what you can expect from future episodes, what the term “color shift” means, and how the show is designed to feel like three friends catching up over coffee — one speaking, one listening and asking questions, and you, the audience, quietly taking it all in.

This is not a podcast about adoption policy — it’s about the lived experience of growing up between cultures, identities, and expectations. Whether you’re a TRA yourself or someone who cares about one, this is your invitation to listen deeply.

Support the show

Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/color_shift_tra?igsh=em5ka3hkMXJxODA5

TicTok: https://www.tiktok.com/@colorshifttransra?_t=ZP-8wOIvdcK7ah&_r=1

Merch: Color Shift 1.0 by Nathan Choi – Adoptive Threads

If you are interested in supporting this podcast please go to the listener support page: https://www.buzzsprout.com/2502012/support

If you are a transracial adoptee and want to share your story email me at: transracialadoptionstories@gmail.com