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 provide supplies to orphanages, including the one where his life began.

This conversation explores belonging, memory, and how adoptees navigate the spaces between past and present—holding complexity, curiosity, and care along the way.

Steven's t-shirt company: www.adoptivethreads.com

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

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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

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 teared up a little bit and we definitely laughed a lot as well.

Thank you to Jeremy for being a great host.

I hope you enjoy.

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 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 identity.

Alejandra talks about the pivotal year her mother took a sabbatical to live with her in Mexico so she could learn Spanish, and later, her decision to spend a year in Guatemala reconnecting with the country she came from. She also shares the emotional experience of searching for and meeting her biological family in 2019, and how becoming a mother herself has deepened her appreciation, compassion, and grief for the woman who gave birth to her.

This episode explores identity, language loss, reunion, and the weight of what it means to know — and not know — where you come from. Alejandra’s story offers tenderness, honesty, and a window into the layered reality of transnational adoption.

https://www.safepassage.org

https://www.thetiesprogram.com/guatemala-ties-heritage-tours

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