The Empowered Adoptee Podcast

In celebration of National Adoptee Awareness Month (NAAM), we are honored to feature the voices of four incredible Korean adoptees: Margot, Mihyun, Josh, and Kim.

This episode is dedicated to the truth that adoptees are the experts on adoption because of our lived experience. Our intention is to bring more understanding, compassion, and much-needed awareness to the complexities of adoption.

Margot, Mihyun, Josh, and Kim gen...

In this episode of The Empowered Adoptee Podcast, we explore the evolution of National Adoption Month (NAAM) and how adoptees across the world are reclaiming it as National Adoptee Month.

What began as a government initiative to promote adoption has transformed into a powerful movement led by adoptees, a movement rooted in truth-telling, healing, advocacy, and empowerment.

We break down the history of NAAM, how it was originally crea...

As we enter National Adoptee Awareness Month (NAAM), we’re dedicated to giving adoptees the seat at the table to tell their own stories and define their own narrative. Join us for an incredibly heartfelt discussion with Kim, a Korean Adoptee (KAD) who shares her unique, and often-criticized, story of having a very positive adoptee experience.

Kim is close to her adoptive parents and currently has no interest in a birth search. Yet, ...

In this heartfelt and honest episode of The Empowered Adoptee Podcast, we explore how coping mechanisms and addictions often develop as survival strategies for adoptees navigating loss, identity, and attachment wounds.

Through personal stories and open conversation, we talk about how emotional and physical addictions can take root from people-pleasing and perfectionism to substance use, workaholism, or emotional avoidance and how th...

In this deeply personal and moving episode, we sit down with Gianna Peterson, who vulnerably shares her story as a Korean American adoptee. Born in Busan, South Korea, Gianna was adopted at six months old and raised in a white adoptive family in New Jersey. She grew up with an older brother (her parents' biological son) and a younger sister adopted from China.

Gianna’s adoption story took on a new twist when she became a mother...

In this inspiring episode of The Empowered Adoptee Podcast, we sit down with Min-Ae (Mindy), a Korean American adoptee whose journey is marked by resilience, strength, and deep faith. Mindy is an intuitive face reader who uses her gifts to help people better understand themselves and others, illuminating personality traits, emotional tendencies, and behavioral patterns that support authenticity and self-discovery.

Mindy opens up abo...

Welcome back to another vulnerable episode where we get really personal and dive into two concepts that have shaped our lives as Korean adoptees: Han and Jeong.

You know those feelings you have that are too big for words? That's what Han and Jeong are for us. We'll be talking about how Han is the deep, unresolved grief and anger we feel—both individually from our own adoption narratives, and collectively from a history of ...

This week, we're joined by a returning guest and dear friend, Kirsten Mathis. We want to start by wishing Kirsten a very happy 40th birthday! In honor of her big day, let's all participate in her Birthday Love Challenge by making a commitment to show ourselves and others more love and compassion this week.

In this powerful episode, Kirsten vulnerably shares her journey of growth and change as it relates to her adoption sto...

The Mother Wound: A Deep Dive into Loss, Love & Healing

In this powerful and tender episode, we explore the mother wound, a wound that lives in the body, heart, and spirit of many adoptees. From the primal loss of our first mother to the complex dynamics with adoptive mothers, this episode opens a space for truth-telling, grief, compassion, and healing.

Whether your relationship with your mother was loving, strained, nonexistent,...

In this enlightening and deeply heartfelt follow-up episode, we welcome back Mike Malloy, a Korean American adoptee, veteran, and community builder. Mike returns to share his powerful experience with psilocybin-assisted therapy, originally sought to support his PTSD from military service, and how it unexpectedly brought long-buried aspects of his adoption story to light.

Mike speaks vulnerably about how this journey helped him acces...

In this episode, Laurie and Claire delve into the nuanced topic of microaggressions within the adoption community. 

This discussion was inspired by a KAAN (Korean American Adoptee Adoptive Family Network) Conference workshop that Laurie and Claire attended. We want to help bring microaggressions into the light so that we can talk about them, normalize our feelings around them, and give us tools to navigate through them.

Key...

In this follow-up conversation, we welcome back Julie Duvall—an aged-out Korean orphan, late-life adoptee, and fierce advocate for adult Korean orphans. Julie returns to share more deeply about her ongoing journey of healing, faith, and purpose.

We dive into the realities faced by those who grow up in orphanages without ever being adopted, and the emotional landscape that unfolds in adulthood—from identity formation to grief, resili...

This week, join Laurie and Claire for a special mini-episode as they share their pre-KAAN conference jitters and excitement! Heading to a large conference, even one filled with supportive community, can bring on a mix of emotions. Laurie and Claire open up about their feelings and, in true Empowered Adoptee fashion, offer some quick and easy tools to help you navigate any nervousness or anxiety you might be feeling about attending ...

In this powerful and validating episode of The Empowered Adoptee Podcast, we explore the real reasons why breakups and loss can feel so devastating—not just emotionally, but physically and biochemically.

Whether it’s the end of a romantic relationship, the loss of a close friendship, estrangement, heartbreak activates some of the deepest parts of our nervous system and attachment wounds—especially for adoptees and anyone who has exp...

In this vulnerable episode, Laurie and Claire dive deep into the complex topic of self-sabotage, particularly among adoptees. We explore the subconscious strategies that lead us to undermine our own relationships and goals, often driven by fear and core wounds. Join us as we uncover the common triggers, patterns of behavior, and the beliefs that perpetuate self-sabotaging actions. More importantly, we discuss practical steps to cha...

In this powerful episode, we’re joined by Kari Rudd, a Korean adoptee based in Santa Barbara, California. Kari shares her transformative journey of searching for identity and belonging after her challenging experiences with adoption.

Kari was adopted at around six months old into a family that faced significant struggles. After being removed from her adoptive family as a teenager, she has lived a life marked by resilience and q...

In this heartfelt episode of The Empowered Adoptee Podcast, we honor Mental Health Awareness Month by sharing personal stories from our own journeys with mental health as adoptees. We speak honestly about the challenges we’ve faced—grief, anxiety, depression, isolation—and the tools, practices, and moments of connection that helped us keep going.

We explore:

• The unique mental health challenges adoptees often experience
• The hidden ...

In this deeply moving episode, we sit down with Julie Duvall, a Korean aged-out orphan who was adopted later in life. Julie’s unique perspective sheds light on the complexities of growing up in an orphanage in Korea and her journey through finding her way in life without any support from a family of her own. With heartfelt honesty, she shares her experiences, the challenges she faced, and how she transformed her life from struggles...

In this heartfelt episode of The Empowered Adoptee Podcast, we explore a tender and complex question:
“What does AAPI Heritage Month mean to Asian American adoptees?”

For many of us, this month brings up a mix of celebration and sorrow — pride in our cultural roots, grief for what was lost, and sometimes uncertainty about where we belong. Together, we unpack these emotions and share how adoptees are finding ways to reclaim iden...