About Kent Edwards:

 I was born 12/4/1977 in Elizabethtown, KY and immediately placed for adoption due to circumstances involving race. My biological mother did not believe that she or her family could provide the type of support that a biracial (black/white) child would need. I was in foster care 14 months and adopted in February of 1978. My parents, both ordained ministers, had a miscarriage and afterward didn’t think they could conceive. However, during the adoption process they got pregnant with my little sister who was born two months after I came to live with them. Wow, talk about an instant family!

My sister and I grew up in Lynchburg, VA. I was a bit of a problem child, but was blessed with parents whose unconditional love showed no boundaries. Sports and physical activity were my outlet and where I excelled. School never came to easy for me, but it was mainly because of my short attention span. I was good enough in baseball to receive an athletic scholarship. In the fall of 2000 I graduated from West Virginia Wesleyan with a BA in History with a bulk of my studies focused on civil rights. A week after my last class, my father and I drove to KY to petition for my birth and adoption records and start “the search.” The process took a great deal of time but about a year and a half later I finally received my records. I now had quite a bit of info about my biological mother that included her name, SSN, DOB, last known address, etc. However, I was only given my biological father’s name and last known address. The search was not near as easy as I thought it would be. At the time I was unaware of how crucial all of the information about both of them truly was.

I began teaching elementary school shortly thereafter in northern VA. Five years later I moved to NYC to pursue my modeling and acting career more seriously. Because of my love of movement and activity I also began personal training as a supplemental income. The acting/ modeling thing was fun, but it was not truly fulfilling. Not to mention it required a great deal of sitting and thats just not me. From there my passion for movement and training (coaching and teaching) grew! I currently work full-time as a personal trainer.
Just a little over eleven years ago, with the help of a private investigator, I was able to locate the maternal side of my biological family. The initial contact with my grandmother was not the most pleasant, but over time things changed and she began to accept and love me. I found out from grandmother that I was a secret that only she and my mother (who passed roughly 20 years before) shared. I learned that I was indeed placed for adoption due to my race even though my father’s side wanted to keep me.

This past summer, at the strong suggestion of a dear friend, I decided to do a DNA test to explore my genealogy and perhaps find my biological father. I received the results on 7/27/18 and began sending emails to all of my closely shared DNA matches. I committed to working a minimum of one hour per day researching from a large list of data bases and sending emails to my DNA matches. On 8/11 a new DNA match popped up on the website and I remember thinking how much my cousin and I resembled one another. I immediately emailed him and a few days later he replied. Low and behold on 8/14 my life changed forever... I found my biological father! We met on 8/24 at his home in Chicago. I am the second oldest of my four siblings. On 10/27 we had a family reunion at my cousin’s home just outside of San Francisco. There is much more to this story, but keeping it simple it is all love! Learn more about Kent Edwards: Kent Edwards IG

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