María Fernanda was born in Quito, Ecuador in the mid 80's. She is Afro Ecuadorian with roots in both Ecuador and Colombia. She was adopted from Ecuador to the U.S. by the age of 3 and raised in Texas. Her early separation from her birth country shaped many parts of her life growing up which is why she began the journey to search for truth. In 2020, in the midst of a global pandemic, she found her first family through social media. The following year, she traveled to Ecuador for the first time in over 30 years to meet them. In 2024, she returned once again, this time reclaiming her Ecuadorian citizenship and deepening her connection to her roots.

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It was during the initial findings of her family, that María realized how deeply she longed for a community- to share stories, thoughts, feelings, experiences & offer mutual support. Her personal experience inspired her to co-create this community space for adult adoptees who have ties to a Latin country. As a transnational, intercounty adoptee, María understands the complex challenges of being disconnected from birth country & birth family & the importance of having a soft place to land. Post reunion, she began to deconstruct her adoption story & explore ways to heal individually & collectively with the community. She launched Guía Nova Mentoring: an adoptee centered resource for those who are navigating reunion, post reunion and reclamation.

Megan is an international, transracial adoptee born in Quito, Ecuador in 1996. As an infant, she was adopted & brought to the US. She grew up in Massachusetts in a small, predominantly white town with her adoptive family, where she currently resides. Since her closed adoption, Megan longed to complete the story of her life, meet her birth family & learn about her roots. In fact, as she got older, she made this her mission. This mission was & still is so important to her because her adoption has affected many aspects of her life including her mental health, self-esteem & navigation in a white world. After years of searching, she has been navigating reunion with her biological family in Ecuador & its complexities since 2018.

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While she thought that finding her biological family would complete her life story, it did not. Instead, she has learned the adoptee life is a continuous journey but connecting with the adoptee community has finally provided her with a space to be heard, validated & empowered. Co-creating this space has been such a blessing for her as she longed for this community growing up. Megan has her Masters in Social Work, is a Licensed Independent Clinical Social Worker & works as an outpatient mental health clinician.