Korean American Story Spotlight:
Jae Rindner
About Jae:
Jae Rindner has been a long time leader of Also-Known-As and currently on the board of ATN. We really appreciate Jae sharing her story for the very first time. In the real world, Jae works at the Office of the Executive VP of NYU Langone Health.
About the Collaboration:
In collaboration with Korean American Story, IAMAdoptee asked 10 Korean American adoptees to share parts of their adoption story and experiences with their mental health along the way. These ten adoptees span 4 decades of intercountry adoptions from Korea. While their ages range from their 20s to their 50s, their stories are timeless.
About IAMAdoptee and Korean American Story
It began again with the death of a young 14 year old Korean adoptee by suicide. Her death and the stories of death by suicide of adoptees from Korea, Ethiopia, India, Vietnam and more emerged louder and clearer. For those of us serving and supporting the well-being of intercountry adoptees from academics to clinicians, this was not astonishing, but deeply troubling.
With the generosity of Korean American Story and their commitment to preserving stories of all Korean Americans, IAMAdoptee collaborated by supporting this endeavor with a brave assemblage of adoptees from multiple generations. We felt it important to hear the achievements and challenges of growing up in America as an adoptee of color with a focus on age, gender and region.
We asked adoptees in their 20s, 30s, 40s and 50s to share their lived experience with adoption, mental health, and suicide, as well as a visual reminder of hope and that we are all a part of a larger whole. It was a personal ask of these men and women to open up and share, for some, the only time they have ever done so in such a public way.
