Ethiopian Adoptees | Unapologetically Unfiltered24 Jun

Rediet: Feeling Like a Disruption (Part 2 of 3)

In this second part of the interview, Rediet shares the jarring reality of being brought into a white American home that already felt "completed." She describes her arrival not as a smooth integration, but as a "disruption" to an seemingly established family dynamic, where she often felt like a guest in her own bedroom or a "puppy" whose initial novelty eventually wore off. From the physical pain of her first winter to the uncomfortable silence of suburban life, she reflects on the profound grief of losing her mother, her language, and her culture, all while her adoptive parents operated under a "colorblind" philosophy that left her completely unprepared for the racial realities of the world.

We also dive into the systemic failures of international adoption, which we candidly characterizes as a form of child trafficking due to the frequent loss of vital documentation and the lack of informed consent from biological families back in Ethiopia. She opens up about the "survival instinct" she developed at a young age, realizing she had to navigate a world where her parents could quite literally never understand her experience. It wasn't until she found community with other Black women, from her first Black friend in eighth grade to the hairdressers who restored her confidence, that she began to process the visceral racial trauma of her upbringing and reclaim the identity that had been suppressed for years.

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Episoder(22)

Rediet: You Can't Have a Kid for Gratitude (Part 3 of 3)

In our final segment with Rediet, we explore the deep psychological impact of transracial adoption, specifically how the titles of "Mom" and "Dad" are earned through emotional connection rather than l...

13 Jul 41min

Rediet: Good Girls Don’t Get Their Heads Shaved (Part 1 of 3)

In this episode (Part 1 of 3), I sit down with Rediet, a fellow Ethiopian adoptee, and we go back to the beginning of her story in Addis Ababa, where she was raised by loving, strong women and remembe...

11 Jun 37min

Billy Birhan Desalegn: The Interpreter of Broken Promises (Part 2)

INTERVIEW WITH BILLY - PART 2 I had the honor of sitting down with my dear friend Billy, also known as Billy Birhan Desalegn, in this deeply moving interview. Billy is a professional tour guide from A...

7 Mai 49min

Billy Birhan Desalegn: The Interpreter of Broken Promises (Part 1)

I had the honor of sitting down with my dear friend Billy, also known as Billy Birhan Desalegn, in this deeply moving interview. Billy is a professional tour guide from Addis Ababa who unexpectedly be...

15 Apr 51min

Umm Adoptees, Are We Okay?

Hey guyssss, this episode is me getting brutally honest with myself and with us as a community. It’s truthfully more of a crashout that I refuse to make palatable, because this is the reality of our l...

13 Okt 202535min

YOU'RE NOT CRAZY - The Odds Were Not In Your Favor

Hey everyone! In this solo episode, I get real about something that’s been weighing heavy on my heart: the lie we’ve been told that adoption is always good, always safe, always “better.” The title say...

16 Jun 202544min

Cosimo Naldi: Amor Vincit Omnia ("Love conquers all”) (Part II)

[SAME SUMMARY FROM PART I] In this first episode of 2025, I had the honor of virtually sitting down with Cosimo Naldi, an Ethiopian adoptee raised and living in Italy. This conversation was raw, emoti...

16 Feb 202546min