Jenifer

Jenifer was born in the small town of Columbia, Alabama. Her father, in her own words, is a “white redneck” and her mother was born in northern Florida to Japanese parents. Her father met her mother at a post football game party where they had a one-night stand. Her mother then fell pregnant with Jenifer at only 15 years old. Upon finding out that she was pregnant, she went looking for the father but he wanted nothing to do with her or the baby. Jenifer can count on one hand the number of times she has seen him.

When she was born, Jenifer’s mother left her in the hospital and the nurses alerted her paternal grandparents who took her in and raised her as their own. Her grandparents at no point throughout her childhood mentioned that they weren’t her parents until she was 13 when her biological mother sued to see her.

Up until that point it had never made sense why she’d felt so different and out of place. She had long, Black hair with tanned skin from playing outside in the Alabama sun. Her classmates called her Pocahontas as it was the closest reference they had, but had no idea of her Japanese heritage. Their first meeting ignited a crazy longing to find out where she was from as it finally made sense why she had felt so different. Jenifer pushed her grandparents to be able to see her mother, yet any enquiry would be immediately shut down. Finally her grandparents gave her an ultimatum - she could either continue living with them or she could go and live with her mother but she would be cut off if she did so. Jenifer chose her mother and moved in with her and her younger half-sister in Atlanta.

Sadly, the relationship with her mother soured as her mother became physically abusive to her and over the next 3 years Jenifer ran away from home regularly. As the abuse continued Jenifer found herself in and out of the Juvenile Detention System. Jenifer left home at 16, emancipated and moved out on her own and has had a successful life and career in multiple industries.

Although the 3 years with her mother were traumatic, it didn’t dim her desire to learn about her heritage and at 25 got a passport to travel to Japan which was an incredible experience. She says the most validating thing was that as soon as she arrived, the people immediately recognised her as mixed, which is something that had rarely happened up until that point.