She was adopted at birth and spent decades not knowing where she was from. At 21, a one-page letter told her she was Ecuadorian. Then a DNA test connected her to a nephew her husband had known for ten years.

In this episode, Ariana Quinones talks about claiming Puerto Rican when she had no other country, walking into a town in Ecuador where everyone looked like her, the tattoo she got before she understood what she was claiming, and the phone call that finally brought her home.

Watch the full episode on YouTube. Search Roots Renewed.

New episode every Tuesday.

Join the Cultural Roots Reconnection Club: tamigarcia.com/membership

Instagram and Facebook: @tamideegarcia

Website: tamigarcia.com

Some people talk about reconnecting the African diaspora. Today's guest has spent thirty years actually doing it.

Dr. Omowale Crenshaw grew up in San Francisco with deep Louisiana Creole roots. He went to Howard University where the world opened up for him. His name, Omowale, meaning the son who has returned after a long journey, came from his father's Yoruba roots and the Black consciousness movement that shaped his family.

In this conversation Omowale talks about what it felt like to land on the African continent for the first time as an African American, why the only difference between the diaspora across continents is a stop on the ship, how his corridor principle has taken him from San Francisco to Nigeria to Cuba to Colombia to Rwanda, and what he is building to leave behind for future generations.

Watch the full episode on YouTube for the complete conversation including the heritage fragment moment and the student stories. Search Roots Renewed on YouTube.

New episode every Tuesday.

Join the Cultural Roots Reconnection Club: tamigarcia.com/membership

Instagram and Facebook: @tamideegarcia

Website: tamigarcia.com

Nobody was making room for designers from the African diaspora. So, she did.

Anika Hobbs is the founder of Nubian Hueman in Washington DC, a retail space centered on designers from the African diaspora. She built it in 2013, before any of this was trending, after asking herself why she could find the same white shirt anywhere in the world but could not find Black designers on a shelf.

In this conversation Anika talks about growing up African American not knowing where the African part came from, the DNA test that gave her a guide star, bringing her lineage to her 104 year old grandmother before she passed, how fashion became a gateway for people to reconnect with their heritage, and what it cost her to build something the world was not ready for yet.

Watch the full episode on YouTube for Anika's walk through the store and the stories behind every piece. Search Roots Renewed on YouTube.

New episode every Tuesday.

Connect with Anika: @nubianhueman

Join the Cultural Roots Reconnection Club: tamigarcia.com/membership

Instagram and Facebook: @tamideegarcia

Website: tamigarcia.com

MarieYolaine grew up between two worlds: Haitian at home, American everywhere else. At six years old, a teacher couldn't pronounce her name and gave her a new one. She answered to it for decades. It wasn't until she went back to Haiti, walking up a mountain and hearing people call her real name, that she realized how much she had missed it.

This is a conversation about what it means to carry your culture with pride, navigate identity across borders and generations, and reclaim what was always yours.

IN THIS EPISODE:

• The Power of a Name: The moment she realized her identity had been taken, and the journey to take it back.
• Haitian "24/7 and Twice on Sundays": Navigating the distance between cultures without losing the connection.
• The Reframe: Why she left her corporate career after the 2010 Haiti earthquake to found C2C Haiti.
• Closing the Gap: One practical step anyone can take to reconnect with their own heritage.

TIMESTAMPS:

• 00:00 — Introduction: Tami shares her journey of cultural reconnection.
• 02:32 — Identity: "I am Haitian, 24/7 and twice on Sundays".
• 05:07 — Two Worlds: Navigating life in a "dual identity" between home and school.
• 11:31 — The Lesson: The difference between insulating children and preparing them for life.
• 17:45 — The Name Story: How a first-grade teacher replaced "MarieYolaine" with "Marie Brown".
• 20:10 — The Reclaiming: Hearing her real name called on a mountain in Haiti.
• 22:16 — The Filter: Why using a person's correct name is an act of dignity and respect.
• 30:20 — Closing the Gap: One step anyone can take to reconnect with their heritage.

CONNECT WITH MarieYolaine

• C2C Haiti: https://c2chaiti.org
• Instagram: @MarieYolaineToms

TAKE ACTION TODAY:

1. JOIN THE CULTURAL ROOTS RECONNECTION CLUB: Access exclusive resources, community calls, and guided support for your own journey of reclamation.

2. SUBSCRIBE: Follow the show on this platform to never miss an episode.

3. REFLECT: What is one small step you can take this week to "close the gap" with your roots?

READY TO RECONNECT WITH YOUR ROOTS?

If this episode stirred something in you, that pull toward your heritage or your family story, you don't have to figure it out alone. MarieYolaine reminds us that it is not about "disconnection," it is simply about "distance." Whether you are just beginning to close the gap or you are ready to stand ten toes down in your truth, Roots Renewed is a space built for you.

Your heritage is yours. No one gets to define it for you. It’s something you claim, and when you do, it changes how you move through the world.

As MarieYolaine says: Period, full stop.

In this short introduction, I share why I created this podcast and what you can expect from our conversations.

For most of my life, I thought I didn’t have the right to claim my culture. I grew up disconnected from my Dominican and Jamaican heritage and felt like a cultural imposter. Then I realized something that changed everything.

Your heritage is yours.

This podcast is for people who grew up between worlds, who feel too much or not enough, and who want to reclaim their story and build a legacy they are proud to pass on.

Each week, I sit with guests across cultures and diasporas who are choosing to live more aligned with who they are and where they come from. We talk about the struggle. And we talk about the shift. What changed. What was reclaimed. What we’re doing differently now.

We don’t start with everything.
We start with one thing.
And we build from there.