Welcome!
Learn more about my work with the adoption community, my work with An Adoption Story and our history with
I’m Adopted.
An Adoption Story
An Adoption Story is my online series, where I sit down with adoptees to hear their journeys. Along the way with the stories being told, I will be following the journeys for each person. Following their footsteps with whatever path they are on.
You can keep yourself updated by visiting my YouTube channel for latest Episodes and updates.
The series is now a co-prod with my own Dvina media company and Critical Mass Productions.
Latest Episode is proudly supported by Ancestry.com.
I’m Adopted
In 2015, I founded and established the I’m Adopted organisation. An online community that helps adoptees across the world connect. With myself also being an adoptee, I know how important it is to have a community like I’m Adopted.
I’m Adopted was created to provide a space for people. It gives adoptees a voice to share their stories and to find support with others in the community. Along with our online community, we have had face to face meet-us and also established resources which provides an insight to adoption. With our web series, an Adoption story, we have been able to help many who follow a similar journey. This also includes those adoptive parents who may be wanting to understand more on adoption for their children.
We also provide advice on those who may be seeking to find birth family or learn about their roots. We know how important this is too within our community. I’m Adopted was established as an official New Zealand charity in 2020. We have a Givealittle page too for I’m Adopted as we truly always appreciate your generosity.
We are also proud with our work that we currently do with Inter-Country Adoption NZ (ICANZ). We have also contributed with the New Zealand Government to provide advice on extra support for those adopted domestically in New Zealand.
Visit I’m Adopted here on Facebook or Instagram. You can also visit our Private group too through the Facebook Page.
For the I’m Adopted website and to get in touch, please visit imadopted.org
Long Story Short. My Story
I was adopted at the age of two years old from an orphanage in Arkhangelsk, Russia. I came to New Zealand when I was two years old in 1994. I was adopted by my New Zealand parents along with my brother (non-biological) who was also from the same orphanage.
I grew up in Northland to then moving to Auckland in 2011 to study film and television. When I was 21 years old in 2013, I started a search for my birth family. I was always interested to know about my roots and with where I came from. At the end of that year I then got the chance to meet both of my birth parents for the first time. I also found out that I had birth family in Ukraine (My Uncle) and Kazakhstan (Grandmother).
I established I’m Adopted in 2015 which helps adoptees all across the world connect. There we are open to all adoptees, no matter where you were adopted from. With this community we have grown an incredible network which provides support for each other. On top of this, we have had meet-ups face to face, created resources online for adoptees as well as created our own web series where I sit down with adoptees to hear their stories. These help so many of us understand more about who we are. I also work closely with Inter-Country Adoption New Zealand with adoptions that are currently taking placed internationally.
In 2018 I was nominated for Young New Zealander of the Year for my work along with New Zealander of the Year in 2020. I have continued to grow and raise this awareness with my projects and I’m Adopted through visual stories and through my social media. YouTube (37,300+ subscribers), Facebook and Instagram. On YouTube I also share a lot of my own personal journey and story. I know how much this is helping so many around the world.
I have helped many adoptees too trace and find their birth families. Learning about our roots and heritage is important to me and understand where we come from is part of who we are. From late 2022 I started my own web series, An Adoption Story which I share through my YouTube channel. This year, I will be releasing my short documentary film, My Kazakhstan Connection which is about me tracing those birth family links in Kazakhstan.
Thank you for dropping by!