People Like Us

Giulia De Mauro was born in France to Italian parents and grew up between France, Italy and Gabon.

She describes the trauma of leaving people behind as a consequence of her childhood moves and how moving again helped her to “move on” in more ways than one.

Giulia also talks about what she considers when deciding where to move and how she has carved out a career that suits her globally mobile lifestyle.

In this episode I chat with Myra Dumapias who has lived in the Philippines, China, Malaysia, Germany South Korea, Romania and the USA.

Myra talks about fitting in, class consciousness and growing up between local and international environments.

Myra is very active in the TCK space having transformed TCKid into a sustainable non-profit organization that serves as support for understanding the Third Culture Kid identity.

In this episode I talk with Jordan Kalondo-Lechien.

Jordan grew up in Namibia, Kenya, France, Ghana, Switzerland and the UK.  He and I share the same experience of having lived in Nairobi from the age of 8 to 13.

Listen as Jordan describes how he handles peoples reactions to his response to “Where are you from?” and talks about the ups and downs of being a TCK.

Garon Wade is a transracial adoptee, having been adopted from Sri Lanka by a white American couple. He was raised in South Africa, Hawaii, Gambia, Jamaica, Louisiana and Jordan.

Now based in Fort Lauderdale, USA, Garon talks about his international upbringing, going back to Sri Lanka as a teenager and much, much more.

Recently published is Garon’s memoir “You’ll Always Be White To Me”, which explores the themes of love, identity, race and culture.

In this episode I chat with Tayo Rockson.

The son of a diplomat, Tayo grew up in Nigeria, Sweden, Burkina Faso, Vietnam and the USA.

The eldest of three brothers, Tayo describes the different perspectives that they each had of their TCK upbringing.

Listen to find out how a near death experience prompted Tayo to decide to use his global identity to make an impact in the world. He now uses his difference to make a difference, making the most of being a TCK!

https://tayorockson.com

Don Blevins is half American and half Korean and spent his early years in Korea, Malaysia and Taiwan before completing his schooling in the USA.  His adult life has seen him live in several different states of the USA and he also feels very much at home in South East Asia.

Listen as Don talks about his three daughters and the decisions around whether to move or not whilst raising them.

In this week’s episode I chat with Camille Deniau. Camille was born in Paris to French parents and grew up in France, Singapore and the UK.

She describes what feeling rootless means to her and how this feeling of never being rooted or settled inspired her to start her own business: Project Roots, which is glass artwork of trees. “Meaningful artwork to connect with your roots.”

You can find details of her work at https://projectrootsart.com/

Qahli Eltinae grew up in in Saudi Arabia and Bahrain. He attended international schools in both places.

Once out of education, he started to explore his Sudanese roots by going to Khartoum. As with all TCKs, smells evoke his memories of his childhood and take him back to the places he grew up in an instant.

His book The Moral Judgement of Butterflies will be published in October 2021.

In this week’s episode I chat with Heather Thorkelson. Heather’s TCK upbringing was unusual in that as well as growing up in Canada and Costa Rica, her dad was a pilot so she travelled with him to unusual places such as rural Brazil from the age of 8. This gave her the courage to move to Japan and find out if she could manage on her own in such a foreign environment. Listen to see how that worked out and how she came to live in Sweden, where she currently resides

https://heatherthorkelson.com/

In this week’s episode I chat with Barry Barnes. Barry is no stranger to the classic TCK line which is “and then we moved to…” having lived in 41 houses by the time he was 19 years old. He grew up as both a TCK and a military brat in the USA and the Philippines.

Listen as we talk about his many interests along with what home means to Barry and how he’s now reached an all time record of living in his current house for 10.5 years.