Adrienne Abiodun: Part 1. Off the grid globetrotter. Enduring loss.

Adrienne discusses the need for greater suicide prevention support for military personnel after she endured losing her father, who served in the U.S. armed forces, to unaddressed mental trauma; losing her hearing at 16 years old from a car accident; how her off the grid exploration in Tajikistan’s Wahkan Valley in the Pamir mountains led to her interest in DNA testing for genealogy and a search for her heritage after having learned that her dad was not her biological father at 10 years old; beginning her career after studying video production at the Art Institute of Los Angeles; interspersing volunteering with Habitat for Humanity in Romania, Ethiopia, and Kenya among jobs in mobile marketing including her walking from New York to California for Steps Across America; leaving the workforce to raise her children; enjoying playing capoeira, fitness, botanical gardens and learning Farsi in her free time; discovering the realities of using DNA tests to research genetic ancestry; becoming a professional genealogist; her family not knowing or talking about their past; how family history was lost by fleeing Mississippi for California and never returning; descending from Revolutionary War patriot Christopher Guice; and discovering lies on her grandfather's birth certificate. In the next episode, Part 2, hear about Adrienne’s findings and what happened when she contacted the leader of the Connecticut State Society Daughters of the American Revolution and told her that they descend from the same patriot ancestor and therefore her family has mixed race heritage. Read Adrienne’s biography at www.daughterdialogues.com/daughters

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