Labor of Love: A Podcast for BIPOC Adoptees Navigating Parenthood

Nari Baker & Robyn Park
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Labor of Love is a podcast that centers and amplifies the voices of BIPOC adoptees navigating parenthood. In this space, we connect with and gather the wisdom of contemplating, expecting, new, and experienced adoptee parents of color. We talk fertility, conception, pregnancy, birth and delivery, postpartum and beyond, all from an adoptee perspective. We believe our community needs and deserves more resources for the beautiful and challenging journey of being a BIPOC adoptee parent. This podcast is one of our contributions to our community. Thank you for joining us and tuning in. Co-Hosts: Nari Baker & Robyn Park Music: Mike Marlatt & Paul Gulledge Editing: Federico aka mixinghacks Artwork: Dalhe Kim Listen on: iTunes & Spotify Instagram: @laboroflovepodcast Venmo: @laboroflovepodcast

  1. OCT 8

    It’s Not History, It’s Ongoing

    Join us and Dr. Oh Myo Kim for an illuminating conversation on her time parenting her two children while in Korea as a Fulbright researcher and professor at Yonsei University. Dr. Kim graces us with her perspective on Korean and US politics, how she is including her children in learning about current events, and what it has been like teaching Korean and international students about Korean adoption. Additionally, Dr. Kim sheds light on her newest research on adoptees who search but do not find, and DOKADs (descendants of Korean adoptees) and the politics of identity within the next generation, and the legacies of adoption for us all. Oh Myo Kim BioOh Myo is a counseling psychologist who researches adoption and identity. She is primarily a mixed-methods and qualitative researcher.  She holds a BA in English, a Master of Divinity, and a PhD in Counseling Psychology. Oh Myo teaches classes for undergraduates and graduate students in the Mental Health Counseling program at Boston College. She is currently a visiting professor at Yonsei University in Seoul, South Korea on a Fulbright Fellowship. https://www.ohmyo.kim https://www.childrenofadoptees.com Co-Hosts: Nari Baker & Robyn ParkMusic: Mike Marlatt & Paul GulledgeAudio Production: Frederico Soler FernándezArtwork: Dalhe Kim Listen on: iTunes & SpotifyInstagram: @laboroflovepodcastSupport via Venmo: @laboroflovepodcast

    56 min

  2. AUG 5

    The Right And Power As Their Mother

    Join us for our second episode of season 2 with Shannon Bae. Shannon is a long-time friend, fellow Korean adoptee community activist and organizer, and mother of two amazing kids. This intimate conversation took place in Seoul in the summer of 2023 during the International Korean Adoptee Association's 6th Korea Gathering. In our shared ancestral land, Shannon generously shares about her decision to not explicitly share her adoption story with her children at this point in their development, and her juxtaposing experiences giving birth in Korea and the United States while continuing to cultivate a deeper relationship with her birth mother. Shannon also discusses her children's experiences moving back and forth between Korea and the United States, raising them bilingual, and why she doesn't view translating for adoptee reunions as work. ** As of the publishing on this episode, Shannon has shared about her adoption with both of her children.  Shannon Bae BioShannon Doona Bae just finished her Ph.D. in Anthropology at UC Irvine. She holds an M.A. in Anthropology from University of California Irvine and an M.A. in Cultural Anthropology from Hanyang University, South Korea. Her research interests include adoption, gender, kinship, and South Korea. Her dissertation, titled “Reconciling DNA: Making kin and nation through genetic testing in South Korea," was supported by the National Science Foundation, Wenner-Gren Foundation, Association of American University Women, Korea Foundation, Center for Critical Korean Studies UCI, Academy for Korean Studies, U.S. Dept of Education Foreign Language Area Studies, and Initiative to End Family Violence UCI. She hopes to publish her dissertation as a book eventually, in order to do justice to all of the adoptees and birth family members who were willing to share their stories with her. She was adopted with her twin sister, Hana, at the age of 4 and has been reunited with her mom since 2013. She has two lovely and mischievous children who keep her on her toes.  Co-Hosts: Nari Baker & Robyn ParkMusic: Mike Marlatt & Paul GulledgeAudio Production: Augustina Moore & Adrien Prevosthttps://august222222.comArtwork: Dalhe Kim Listen on: iTunes & SpotifyInstagram: @laboroflovepodcastSupport via Venmo: @laboroflovepodcast

    59 min

  3. JUN 11

    Kitchen Table Politics

    Join us for a fierce and loving conversation with Cynthia Mumtaz Anderson, Pakastani adoptee mother of two and social justice professional. Cynthia shares about her inspiring practice of Kitchen Table Politics where she has honest conversations with her children and partner about current events, how they are affecting their lives, and what they are going to do about it together. We talk about her feelings about the changing political landscape, and witnessing her sons' heartbreak while she empowers them to use their privilege to defend themselves and the people they love. We also touch on belonging, safety, citizenship, white allyship, forgiveness, and trust with special focus on Cynthia's journey of revising her relationship with performative interactions and modeling self love for her sons and her own inner child. Cynthia Anderson BioCynthia Anderson's biological name is Mumtaz which she has tattooed on the inside of her arm. She is the ammi (mother in Urdu) of two amazing boys, wife, daughter, Pakistani American adoptee, and she believes that our true worth in this life is measured by the kindness, love, and compassion we offer to others. She has worked at the University of Washington in Seattle for 19 years as an academic adviser and is active in social justice work there and in her community. Co-Hosts: Nari Baker & Robyn ParkMusic: Mike Marlatt & Paul GulledgeAudio Production: Frederico Soler FernándezArtwork: Dalhe Kim Listen on: iTunes & SpotifyInstagram: @laboroflovepodcastSupport via Venmo: @laboroflovepodcast

    50 min

  4. SEASON 2 TRAILER

    Aaannnddd... We're back!

    Hello all~ We're thrilled to be back for Season 2 after a lengthy hiatus! Episode 1 dropping soon. We've missed you! 3 N & R Co-Hosts: Nari Baker & Robyn ParkMusic: Mike Marlatt & Paul GulledgeAudio Production: Frederico Soler Fernández & Augustina Moore (august222222.com)Artwork: Dalhe Kim Listen on: iTunes & SpotifyInstagram: @laboroflovepodcastSupport via Venmo: @laboroflovepodcast

    2 min

  5. 2023-10-05

    Moving Against the Grain with Self Love

    In this episode, Jenna Corriveau takes us on her journey out of the fog of internalized white supremacy, adoptee “fawn response”, isolation, and harmful familial relationships, and into personal authenticity, self love, adoptee community, and empowerment as a BIPOC adoptee mother. She generously shares her belief in brain science, learning nervous system regulation, and giving oneself daily grace, especially as an adoptee parent. Jenna is un-schooling and eclectic homeschooling her three children, and is deep in the process of de-schooling herself, as an extension of reclaiming her identity around her intelligence and personal autonomy.    https://synergeticplaytherapy.com/https://mindsightinstitute.com/ Jenna Corriveau BioJenna Corriveau is a 39-year-old Colombian Transracial Adoptee, raised in CT. She and her partner Tucker have 3 children: 7, 5 and 1-year-old. In addition to being a parent she has over 15 years of experience working with children and families. Her work spans from preschool teaching, foster care system, practicing Synergetic Play Therapy, parent coaching and Adoption Mosaic. She practices gentle brain/body-based parenting. Currently, she can be found de-schooling and secular home-educating with her family.  Co-Hosts: Nari Baker & Robyn ParkMusic: Mike Marlatt & Paul GulledgeEditing: Frederico Soler FernándezArtwork: Dalhe Kim Listen on: iTunes & SpotifyInstagram: @laboroflovepodcastVenmo: @laboroflovepodcast

    43 min

  6. 2023-09-07

    Intergenerational Adoptee Legacies

    Join us for a beautiful conversation with adoptee mother, Astrid Castro and daughter, Maya Papaya Castro Dabbeni. They generously share about their tremendous love and bond, and shed light on how intergenerational trauma and painful legacies of adoption have affected their relationship, perspectives, and behaviors. We also discuss the importance of mirroring and how unique it is for adoptees and children of adoptees; their unique birth family reunion story; birth language acquisition within adoptee families; creating adoption fluency; and moving from isolation as adoptees into community together with our children.    https://www.adoptionmosaic.com/ Astrid Castro BioAstrid  Castro (she/her/hers) is the founder and CEO of  Adoption  Mosaic. Adoption Mosaic is a BIPOC adoptee, woman-led business that seeks to build an inviting adoption conscious community by providing innovative adoptee-centered programs and support.Including a monthly virtual panel series called We the Experts: Adoptee Speaker Series. Astrid has a degree in sociology with an emphasis in adoption. For twenty plus years, she has traveled the country to lead youth groups, present workshops on  transracial parenting, talking with children about adoption, and various other workshops focusing on adoption. Prior to creating Adoption Mosaic, Astrid worked in both the private and public sectors of various adoption organizations such as the Oregon Post Adoption Resource Center (ORPARC), Holt International and Rocky Mountain Adoption Exchange. Astrid co-authored Adoption in the Movies, which takes the reader on a guided tour of 27 movies and documentaries that are ‘dripping with adoption’ which are asking  questions that encourage viewers to engage in ongoing dialogue and discussion. She also developed an innovative, evidence-based, 27-minute training DVD titled, Adoptive Parent Training:Developing Communication Skills. The training demonstrates how adoptive parents can communicate openly and honestly with family, friends and especially children. Astrid is a former member of the board of directors of the North American Council on Adoptable Children, the author of many articles on the subject of adoption and contributed a chapter to the book Parenting as Adoptees. Astrid’s personal experiences as an adoptee, a woman of color, and growing up in  a white family and community, fuel her professional path to helping others. Astrid  is aware of the benefit  of post-adoption services for individuals and their families  and seeks to bring these services to the adoption community. Her life-long interest  in adoption is rooted in her own adoption at the age of four from Colombia (along  with her older sister). Astrid has been in reunion with her birth family in Colombia since December 2011. Read about Astrid’s journey of searching and finding her birth mother in The Oregonian. When Astrid is not working she loves to spend time with family, friends and  enjoying the adventures of life as the mama of an amazing daughter. Maya Papaya Castro Dabbeni BioMaya has grown up hearing and talking about adoption as a child of an adoptee. She is biracial, Colombian and Italian, as well as trilingual, Italian, Spanish and English. At a young age, Maya was a driving force in finding her maternal birth family. To this day, she is still uncovering connections to her Colombian roots, in addition to exploring how generational trauma and epigenetics affect children of adoptees. Maya is excited to share her experience of being a "child of an adoptee" and to bring this topic to light. Maya is currently a third year student at San Jose State University majoring in International Business with a double minor in Spanish and Italian. Co-Hosts: Nari Baker & Robyn ParkMusic: Mike Marlatt & Paul GulledgeEditing: Frederico Soler FernándezArtwork: Dalhe Kim Listen on: iTunes & SpotifyInstagram: @laboroflovepodcastVenmo: @laboroflovepodcast

    56 min

  7. 2023-04-20

    Pandemic Parenting as Adoptees: Managing Up, Passing of Food, and Better Luck Tomorrow

    Dr. Kimberly McKee joins us in a lively conversation that touches on her experiences with her blended family through the pandemic, relationship with her birth family, and upcoming research on API adoptee women and girls in the media. Kim generously shares her perspectives on the challenges and privileges of being a working mom, an adoptee in reunion, and in partnership with a fellow Korean adoptee. She is a fierce advocate for Asian Americans and adoptees through her academic work and teaching, the philosophy of “fed is best”, and taking the time and space to be very intentional about cultivating her ever-evolving relationships with her young son and two step-children. Book Recommendations:I Like Myself by Karen BeaumontWho’s Knees Are These? by Jabari AsimWho’s Toes Are Those? by Jabari AsimKimchi, Kimchi Everyday by Erica KimMr. Watson’s Chickens by Jarrett DapierOlder Sister. Not Necessarily Related. by Jenny Heijun Wills Kimberly McKee BioKimberly McKee is an associate professor and chair of the Integrative, Religious, and Intercultural studies Department at Grand Valley State University. She is the author of Disrupting Kinship: Transnational Politics of Korean Adoption in the United States (University of Illinois Press, 2019) and co-editor of Degrees of Difference: Reflections of Women of Color on Graduate School (University of Illinois Press, 2020). Her current book manuscript, tentatively titled, Adoption Fantasies: The Commodification of Asian Adoptees from Girlhood to Womanhood (Ohio State University Press, under contract), considers the reverberations and effects of sensationalist and fictional adoption portrayals in the lives of adopted women and girls. The monograph interrogates the limits and contours of multiculturalism and colorblindness, analyzing racialized and sexualized popular culture representations of Asian adopted women and girls from 1992 to 2015. McKee serves as a co-chair of the executive committee for the Alliance of the Study of Adoption and Culture. She received her Ph.D. in Women’s, Gender, and Sexuality Studies from The Ohio State University. Co-Hosts: Nari Baker & Robyn ParkMusic: Mike Marlatt & Paul GulledgeEditing: Frederico Soler FernándezArtwork: Dalhe Kim Listen on: iTunes & SpotifyFollow us Instagram: @laboroflovepodcastDonate on Venmo: @laboroflovepodcast

    51 min

  8. 2023-03-30

    Making the Most Space We Can for Others and Ourselves

    Jessica M. Luciere, Colombian adoptee in reunion, generously shares her unique perspective as a long-time professional adoptee mentor/advocate and mother of two young children. An only child with adoptive parents who passed away, Jessica has the complex experience of witnessing her children forge life-long relationships with her Colombian family and not the Italian American parents who raised her. She reminds us of the importance of letting our kids have their own experiences outside of our losses, projections, and grief from adoption, and that the lines of healing across and through relationships are often not linear or exactly reciprocal. Jessica models deep commitment to the adoptee community through her professional work while balancing the sacred work of mothering, partnership and self-care. Jessica M. Luciere BioJessica M. Luciere, is a transracial adoptee, in reunion for the past 17 years, born in Bogota, Colombia who grew up in Long Island, New York as an only child in an Italian-American home. Jessica is a wife and mother to two young kids. She identifies as an Adoptee Advocate, working to create supportive spaces for adoptees and their families around the world, and currently the Manager of Community Engagements at Spence-Chapin. Jessica was one of the founding mentors in 2005, of Spence-Chapin’s NYC Teen Mentorship program which connects tween and teen adoptees with adult adoptee mentors, in a monthly group mentoring program, she is also the former President of All Together Now, based in Brooklyn NY, and has worked with AFFCNY. Jessica’s passion for connecting with adoptees and their families has always been the driving force in her work and is the reason she continues to create spaces for adoptee stories and voices to be heard by all. Co-Hosts: Nari Baker & Robyn ParkMusic: Mike Marlatt & Paul GulledgeEditing: Frederico Soler FernándezArtwork: Dalhe Kim Listen on: iTunes & SpotifyInstagram: @laboroflovepodcastVenmo: @laboroflovepodcast

    44 min
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About

Labor of Love is a podcast that centers and amplifies the voices of BIPOC adoptees navigating parenthood. In this space, we connect with and gather the wisdom of contemplating, expecting, new, and experienced adoptee parents of color. We talk fertility, conception, pregnancy, birth and delivery, postpartum and beyond, all from an adoptee perspective. We believe our community needs and deserves more resources for the beautiful and challenging journey of being a BIPOC adoptee parent. This podcast is one of our contributions to our community. Thank you for joining us and tuning in. Co-Hosts: Nari Baker & Robyn Park Music: Mike Marlatt & Paul Gulledge Editing: Federico aka mixinghacks Artwork: Dalhe Kim Listen on: iTunes & Spotify Instagram: @laboroflovepodcast Venmo: @laboroflovepodcast

Information

  • Creator
    Nari Baker & Robyn Park
  • Years Active
    2021 - 2025
  • Episodes
    17
  • Rating
    Explicit
  • Copyright
    © 2025 Nari Baker & Robyn Park

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