Family Twist: A Podcast Exploring DNA Surprises and Family Secrets

“Our Father” Lit the Fuse

Send a textA Netflix documentary about fertility fraud lit the fuse.After watching Our Father, a question would not let go: how do you actually know donor conception was handled ethically, and how do you know the story you were told is true?So a DNA test gets ordered. While waiting for the results, the question gets asked at home. The response is silence first, then the truth. An anonymous donor. A social father who knew. Years of secrecy. And the realization that many people had this information long before she did.This episode goes deep into what happens after a donor conception secret comes out.In this conversation:How Our Father triggered a DNA test and a reckoningThe moment an anonymous donor replaced a lifelong family narrativeLosing a genetic identity you did not know you hadBeing raised an only child, then suddenly discovering siblingsWhy secrecy and “best practices” caused more harm than protectionWanting connection while learning not everyone wants contactUsing research and language as a way to survive the emotional falloutWhy shame belongs to the system, not the childThe therapy gap for donor-conceived and DNA surprise experiencesThis is not a sensational story about fertility fraud. It is about the quieter damage that secrecy leaves behind, even when everyone thought they were doing the right thing.If you have ever been told not to open Pandora’s box, this episode asks why it was sealed in the first place.

I Lived a Lie and Called It Family

Send us a textWhat happens when the truth about your origins arrives decades late and everyone else already knew?In this episode of Family Twist, Kendall talks with Keith Sciarillo, a late-discovery adoptee who learned later in life that neither of the parents who raised him were biologically related to him. Even harder, siblings and family members knew the truth long before Keith did.Keith shares what it is like to grow up inside a family secret, how silence reshaped his childhood, and why so many moments only made sense after the truth finally came out. He and Kendall talk openly about resentment, understanding, and the complicated balance between grieving what was lost and accepting what is.They also explore identity in a literal sense. Keith grew up believing he was Italian Jewish, only to later discover Puerto Rican and Hungarian Jewish ancestry, including Holocaust survivor history in his biological family. That shift was not just informational. It changed how Keith understood himself, his body, and where he comes from.The conversation moves into parenting, responsibility, and the decision not to pass trauma forward. Keith reflects on becoming a parent while still processing his own story, and why showing up honestly matters more than pretending everything is fine.Toward the end of the episode, Keith mentions a film that deeply resonated with his own experience, Myth of the Ghost Kingdom. The film follows a late-discovery adoptee and captures the emotional reality of learning the truth far later than anyone should. Keith explains why the story feels uncomfortably accurate, and why seeing adoption and identity explored on screen can be validating in ways people do not always expect.This episode is for anyone navigating a late-discovery adoption, a DNA surprise, or the long shadow of family secrecy. It is also for anyone trying to understand how silence shapes a child long after childhood ends.

I Was the Only One Who Didn’t Know

Send us a textWhat happens when the truth doesn’t arrive as a single moment, but hides in plain sight for years?In this episode of Family Twist, Corey and Kendall sit down with Dr. Nicole Price, a DNAngels Board Advisor whose discovery that her father wasn’t her biological parent came not from a sudden match, but from something she didn’t notice for nearly a decade. A small line of text. A quiet warning. A truth everyone else already seemed to know.Nicole shares what it was like to realize she may have been the only person in her family kept in the dark, and how that silence reshaped her sense of self, her relationships with her siblings, and her understanding of empathy. She talks candidly about anger, betrayal, grief, and the physical toll this kind of discovery can take, including anxiety, identity disorientation, and the need for trauma-informed support.This conversation explores what it means to grieve the person you thought you were, why “you’re still the same” can feel dismissive instead of comforting, and how healing doesn’t come from minimizing the impact of a DNA surprise, but from honoring it. Nicole also reflects on reconnecting with her biological father later in life, adjusting expectations, and learning to sit with silence rather than trying to force a relationship to be something it isn’t.Nicole now helps others navigate these moments through her work with DNAngels, offering empathy and guidance to people who are just beginning to process their own discoveries.Nicole will also be speaking at Untangling Our Roots, where she’ll be part of the DNAngels presence supporting attendees who are in the middle of discovery, grief, and integration.This episode is for anyone who has ever been told to move on too quickly, who felt their body react before their mind could catch up, or who needed reassurance that this kind of truth really is a big deal.Guest bio: Dr. Nicole Price is no stranger to the transformative power of empathy. Her personal journey, beginning with the revelation at 45 that her father wasn’t her biological parent, launched her exploration of empathy’s profound impact. These experiences now shape her professional approach, blending her technical, results-focused background with empathetic understanding.Dr. Price’s dynamic genealogy workshops, consulting, and keynotes equip others with practical strategies to enhance their research. With her energetic presentation style, she inspires participants to apply empathy to their genealogical work.She holds a B.S. in Chemical Engineering from North Carolina A&T University, a Master’s in Adult Education from Park University, and a Doctorate in Leadership and Management from Capella University. Postdoctoral studies were completed at Stanford University.Key TakeawaysA DNA discovery doesn’t have to be loud to be life-altering. Quiet realizations and delayed understanding can hit just as hard.Finding out you were the only one who didn’t know creates a unique kind of grief, one rooted in betrayal, silence, and isolation.“You’re still the same person” can feel invalidating. Discovery often changes how someone understands themselves, their body, and their place in their family.This kind of revelation is a grief event, not just new information. Grieving who you thought you were is part of healing.Your body often reacts before your mind can catch up. Anxiety, disorientation, and physical symptoms are common and real.There is no correct timeline for processing discovery. Pausing, pulling back, or limiting new information can be an act of self-care.

“We’re Doing the Work”: A Father–Daughter Reunion Story

Send us a textWhat happens when a father and daughter meet for the first time, in adulthood, and decide to build the relationship in public, in real time?In this episode of Family Twist, Corey sits down with Joseph McGill Jr. and his daughter Charity Barriere Muhammad, who reunited just six months ago and are already preparing to share their story on stage together at Untangling Our Roots Summit 2026 in Atlanta, March 19–22, 2026. Joseph is the founder and Executive Director of The Slave Dwelling Project, an effort that brings attention to the overlooked structures where enslaved people lived by arranging overnight stays in extant slave dwellings, creating space for truth-telling, dialogue, and public education.  He is also the coauthor of Sleeping with the Ancestors: How I Followed the Footprints of Slavery, a deeply personal account of that work and what it reveals about American history, memory, and legacy. Charity is a cultural storyteller, educator, author, and the visionary behind Gumbo for the Soul, blending ancestry, creativity, and community.  In Corey’s conversation with Charity and Joseph, you’ll hear how reunion has expanded her sense of identity, including the way heritage and family history show up in food, traditions, and the stories we tell ourselves about where we come from.Together, Joseph and Charity speak candidly about the early days of reunion, learning trust, holding space for hard truths, and what it means to build a relationship as two adults who both had full lives before they ever met. They also talk about what they hope others in the adoption, donor-conceived, and NPE communities take from their experience, especially those who are still searching, still processing, or still afraid to ask the next question.Kendall will be attending Untangling Our Roots for the first time, and this episode is part preview, part love letter to the messy middle, where healing is real, but so is the work.In this episode, we coverWhat six months of reunion can feel like, emotionally and practicallyNature and nurture moments, when similarities show up in unexpected waysTrust-building after a lifetime without a parent-child relationshipHow Joseph’s work as a public historian shapes his view of legacy and familyHow food, recipes, and cultural inheritance become part of reunionWhy therapy, patience, and “doing your part” matter in late discovery family connectionsWhat Joseph and Charity hope their on-stage conversation sparks for others at Untangling Our RootsGuest spotlightJoseph McGill Jr. Founder and Executive Director, The Slave Dwelling Project. Coauthor, Sleeping with the Ancestors: How I Followed the Footprints of Slavery. Charity Barriere Muhammad Founder, Gumbo for the Soul, author, educator, cultural storyteller. Mentioned in this episodeUntangling Our Roots Summit 2026 (Atlanta, March 19–22, 2026) The Slave Dwelling Project Sleeping with the Ancestors: How I Followed the Footprints of Slavery Gumbo for the Soul 

Do I Belong Here? Finding Home at Untangling Our Roots

Send us a textLast March, Corey attended Untangling Our Roots Summit in Denver for the first time. He went alone, unsure what to expect, and quietly wondering if he belonged there at all.In this solo episode, Corey reflects on walking into a room where everyone already spoke the same language. Adoptees, donor-conceived people, NPEs, MPEs, birth parents, adoptive parents, partners, spouses, and allies, all in one space, without hierarchy or comparison. What began as a moment of imposter syndrome quickly turned into connection, recognition, and relief.This year feels even more meaningful. Corey and Kendall are attending together, and both will be speaking. Corey will be interviewing filmmaker Lisa Brenner, whose work explores identity, truth, and family through storytelling. Kendall will be moderating a powerful panel, “Who Am I? Is This Me. A Male Perspective,” centering men’s voices in conversations about identity disruption and discovery.This episode is an invitation. To anyone who has ever felt alone after a DNA discovery. To anyone still trying to understand where they fit. To anyone who needs to sit in a room where they don’t have to explain themselves.Untangling Our Roots is the largest gathering of these communities anywhere in the world, and it only happens every other year. If you miss it this March, the next one won’t be until 2028.You don’t need all the answers. You just need to show up.