Connection Changes Everything.
And It Begins With You.
Explore the multifaceted world of adoption with The Anna Jinja Show. This 28-minute show delves into all forms of adoption, from traditional placements and chosen families to the adoption of ideas and beliefs, exploring how these shared experiences shape our identities. Join us for insightful conversations and personal stories as guests share their experiences related to adoption and foster care, inspiring original poems and songs created or selected by writers and musicians. Subscribe now for insights on adoption, family, identity, and belonging.
MEET
Anna Jinja
Anna Jinja has spent much of her life wondering what it means to belong.
Adopted as an infant from Seoul, South Korea, and raised in Iowa, she grew up navigating the complicated space between who she was and who she thought she needed to become to be accepted.
That curiosity about identity, worth, and connection became the thread running through her work as a storyteller, author, podcast host, and community builder.
Through The Anna Jinja Show, her novel Adopting Grace, and her writing at Homecoming with Anna, Anna explores the stories that shape us, the experiences that change us, and the unexpected ways we find our way back to ourselves and one another.
The Choose You Club invites people navigating rejection, loss, and life's unexpected turns to rediscover who they are, explore who they want to become, and build meaningful connections along the way.
Anna believes that connection changes everything. And it begins with you.
Anna's professional life has taken her through nonprofit leadership, higher education, community engagement, and the arts. Along the way, she's discovered that some of the most meaningful opportunities begin with a conversation, a little curiosity, and the willingness to say yes to something unexpected.
Her personal life has been equally adventurous. Thanks to a wise mutual friend named Hope, Anna met Pete, who was traveling through the Pacific Northwest on a car-top tent adventure. Their story eventually led to a surprise proposal and, one week later, a wedding at the Ames Public Library.
Anna believes connection changes everything. And it begins with the relationship we have with ourselves.
She invites you to pull up a chair, listen to a story, and perhaps discover something about your own along the way.