We had the good fortune of connecting with Sarah Reinhardt and Louise Browne and we’ve shared our conversation below.

Hi Sarah and Louise, what’s something about your industry that outsiders are probably unaware of?
We have a podcast about adoption. Since only about 2-4% of the population is adopted, it’s not a widely understood topic in the mainstream. I think the narrative has mostly been, ‘Oh, you’re so lucky you were adopted!’ Or, ‘You’re so special, you’re chosen’ or any number of statements people make who don’t understand the full picture. I think people never really understood that babies know what’s going on, and it’s a big trauma to separate a child from the birth mother.

Our podcast is called Adoption: The Making of Me, and we spend the first 15 or so minutes discussing a chapter from, “The Primal Wound”, and then we bring on a guest to discuss adoption. Mostly we’ve had fellow adoptees, but we also interview anyone who has been affected by adoption. We had two sisters whose mother was adopted and left them when they were young, we had a sibling of an adoptee, and recently we interviewed someone in South Africa who runs a home for babies who have been relinquished and awaiting adoption.

We also had the author of “The Primal Wound”, Nancy Verrier on with the filmmaker of a documentary about adoption, – “Reckoning with The Primal Wound” – Rebecca Autumn Sansom. And upcoming, we have the Director of Research from Ancestry.com. Very exciting stuff!

Just FYI: once we finish with “The Primal Wound”, we’ll be starting another book.

Let’s talk shop? Tell us more about your career, what can you share with our community?
Sarah and Louise formerly owned a gourmet ice cream truck, The S’Cream Truck, which did high-end catering, including TV and movie sets, along with private parties. The truck was open for six years and they sold it and both went on to other careers. Sarah worked in marketing, and Louise in fin-tech.

This year, they started a podcast, Adoption: The Making of Me. Both adopted, they’d spent hours talking on their ice cream truck about their childhoods and the impact of adoption. Seeing a need for more adoptee voices, they set up shop in their closets and started the podcast. They’ve reached so many people who are touched by adoption, and receive multiple messages daily from people thanking them and wanting to tell their stories.

If you had a friend visiting you, what are some of the local spots you’d want to take them around to?
We’d start off on a hike on one of our favorite trails in Malibu or Topanga – we’d probably start with Eagle Rock. After that, we’d grab lunch at Cholada on PCH – it’s a little beachy Thai place that serves the most delicious and authentic food and has a great vibe. After that, we’d walk across the street, throw down a blanket, and watch the surfers at Topanga State Beach.

From there, we’d have to get back and shower and get ready for the evening. We’d probably start with sunset drinks at Shutters on the Beach, and then head down to Abbot Kinney and eat dinner at either Felix or The Tasting Kitchen.

We’re no longer club people, that’s a thing of the past, but maybe we’d finish the night shooting pool at Hinao – a great dive bar near the beach on Washington Blvd. in Venice.

Side note: we got to know each other shooting pool, and had a joint birthday party (we’re both Virgos) at Hinao with our collective group of great friends and shut the place down.

The Shoutout series is all about recognizing that our success and where we are in life is at least somewhat thanks to the efforts, support, mentorship, love and encouragement of others. So is there someone that you want to dedicate your shoutout to?
We’d like to shout out to Nancy Verrier, because her book has given us so much insight we didn’t have before, and made our podcast so much richer.

We’d also like to shout out to the adoption community – they’ve been hugely supportive.

Website: https://adoptionthemakingofme.buzzsprout.com

Instagram: TheMakingofMePodcast

Linkedin: https://www.linkedin.com/in/louise-browne-gonzalez-3b5a0519 & https://www.linkedin.com/in/sarahreinhardt/

Twitter: @makingofmepdcst

Facebook: @themakingofmepodcast

Youtube: @The Making of Me Podcast

Image Credits
Cynthia C. Peterson Photography (for our Podcast Feature Photo)

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