Episode 66: There’s No Such Thing As Anonymous Sperm Donation - Wendy Kramer

Wendy Kramer is Director of the Donor Sibling Registry (DSR). The DSR is a charity organization, founded in 2000 by Wendy and her donor-conceived son Ryan, to assist individuals conceived as a result of sperm, egg or embryo donation that are seeking to make mutually desired contact with others with whom they share genetic ties. With more than 66,000 members in 105 countries, the DSR has helped to connect more than 17,000 people with their half-siblings and/or their donors. Without any outside support, the DSR has pioneered an international discussion about the donor conception industry and the families, with its research, speaking engagements and media appearances.

Wendy has co-authored numerous published papers on donor-conception, has reviewed abstracts for the American Society of Reproductive Medicine, and has been a peer reviewer for the journals Human Reproduction and RBM Online. She was Associate Producer on the Style Network's 2011 Emmy nominated show Sperm Donor and on MTV News & Docs, series Generation Cryo, that aired in December 2013. Wendy and her son Ryan have appeared on 60 Minutes, The Oprah Winfrey Show, Good Morning America and many other news shows and publications. Wendy is co-author of the book Finding our Families: A first-of-a-kind Book for Donor Conceived People and Their Families.

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Episode 65: This Morning We Weren’t Parents - Samantha Frazee

Samantha Frazee is a Foster Parent Engagement Specialist with Boulder County Department of Housing and Human Services. Samantha is responsible for the recruitment and retention of foster care providers in Boulder County. She does this primarily through community outreach, speaking events, and word of mouth. Samantha has an identical twin sister, is happily married to her wife of 20 years and has 3 wonderful children through foster care.

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Episode 64: You Are Not Alone - Barbara Collura

Barbara Collura is President and CEO of RESOLVE: The National Infertility Association. Barbara is a nationally recognized expert on infertility and the family building journey, with a special emphasis on the personal experience of those struggling to build their family. Barbara has worked with the World Health Organization on infertility definitions and clinical guidelines, worked with ACOG on their clinical definitions for infertility, and served a four-year term on the Advisory Council of the National Institute of Child Health and Human Development at NIH. Barbara is an expert on public policy issues facing the infertility community that impact both patient access and clinical care. Barbara is passionate about RESOLVE’s mission as the organization was a source of support and information during her own battle with infertility.

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Episode 63: Beverly Hills Egg Donation - Robyn Perchik

Robyn Perchik is the managing partner of Beverly Hills Egg Donation (BHED). An accomplished senior executive with over 29 years’ experience in risk management underwriting, Robyn brings her skills in strategic planning, operations, business development, human resource management and finance to BHED. Robyn has been married for 29 years and is the mother of three boys and one grandson. Robyn understands first-hand the challenges of combining work and home, and the central importance of creating a family.

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Episode 62: Three Time Surrogate To Surrogate Mentor - Christina Ewoldt

Christina Ewoldt is extremely proud to have helped three families realize their dream of having a baby, while creating the extended "family" she has always wanted in return. She is passionate about surrogacy and enjoys mentoring other surrogates and intended parents to mitigate risk and create their own beautiful surrogacy journeys. She is currently writing a memoir on her surrogacy experiences to memorialize the stories for those families she helped and has high hopes of publishing it one day!

She is an “almost-Colorado-native”, having lived in the beautiful state since she was 3 years old. She lives in Thornton with her husband, two rambunctious boys, and a sweet, geriatric Beagle. She is a Cub Scout Den Leader and an avid event/theme party planner! Christina recently left the corporate world to start her own business, PM Oh! Services, LLC (www.pm-oh.com), specializing in fractional PMO services, contract project management and business transformation services; where she hopes to share her love of all things project management to make organizations more efficient, effective, and productive.

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Episode 61: Life, (Almost) Death, and A Curveball –Part 2 – Michelle Minucci

Michelle Minucci is a world traveler, and runs a life-coaching business, Stones Unturned, in San Diego (though she works worldwide). She coaches individuals whom are navigating transitions or seeking to gain more confidence, fulfillment, and balance in their lives, including those in the surrogacy, LGBT, and open-relationship communities. She has also been a surrogate, carried twins and now writes children’s books to help families explain how they grew their family through assisted reproductive technology. 

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Episode 60: Life, (Almost) Death, and A Curveball – Part 1 – Michelle Minucci

Michelle Minucci is a world traveler, and runs a life-coaching business, Stones Unturned, in San Diego (though she works worldwide). She coaches individuals whom are navigating transitions or seeking to gain more confidence, fulfillment, and balance in their lives, including those in the surrogacy, LGBT, and open-relationship communities. She has also been a surrogate, carried twins and now writes children’s books to help families explain how they grew their family through assisted reproductive technology. 

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Episode 59: Want Change? Make It Happen! - Davina Fankhauser

Davina Fankhauser is president and cofounder for Fertility Within Reach. She is an advocate for fertility benefits for those struggling with infertility. In 2010, Davina successfully lobbied for improved fertility legislation in the state of Massachusetts. Fertility Within Reach was founded soon after to share what was learned from that experience, to teach others how to advocate for themselves and to educate policymakers on the benefits of providing insurance coverage to treat the disease of infertility.

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Episode 57: Free Sperm! Too good to be true? – Kyle Gordy

Our most controversial episode to date. Kyle Gordy (not his real name) is a private sperm donor in Los Angeles, California that has been privately donating his sperm for the last 5 years through social media outlets such as Facebook and Craigslist. Gordy has over 15 genetic children through his private donations. But is this a wise option for hopeful parents, or does this path put Kyle (and all other parties) at legal risk? 

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Episode 56: How Much Is A Lost Embryo Worth? -- with Colleen Quinn

Rockstar ART attorney Colleen Quinn talks nightmare cases, difficult valuations, and changing the law. Colleen Quinn has over three decades of experience in adoption, personal injury, medical malpractice, employment, estate planning, and assisted reproductive technology law. She received her J.D. from the University of Virginia, her B.A. from William and Mary, and served as Judicial Clerk to the Honorable Harry L. Carrico, Chief Justice, Virginia Supreme Court. Colleen is a Fellow and past President of the Academy of Adoption and Assisted Reproduction Attorneys (“AAAA”). She has so many awards and recognitions as an outstanding attorney, we wouldn’t know where to start! Not to mention, Colleen is a parent to twin boys and teaches aerobics in her spare time.

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Episode 55: The Danish, The US, And The Intricacies of International Surrogacy - Kaspar Arianto

For Kaspar and his husband starting a family meant the world. Literally. They travelled from Denmark to the US to fulfill their dreams of having twins. Coming from a country were surrogacy is considered a legal grey zone, planning their journey went beyond budgeting for immense economic and emotional costs. They also had to factor in potential legal backlash, insurance problems and one looong flight home.

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Episode 50: 3 Dads and The Journey To Find The Truth — Eve Wiley & Steve Scholl

Eve Wiley

Eve Wiley, originally from a small rural town in East, Texas, uncovered a life changing family secret about her genetic identity. Becoming a modern day Erin Brockovich, she found purpose for her pain by single handedly lobbying for a fertility fraud bill that passed the Texas House and Senate unanimously and exposed the dark side of the grossly unregulated fertility industry. Eve’s story, documented by ABC’s 20/20, thrust her into an advocacy role for donor conceived rights and women’s reproductive rights. As a licensed professional counselor, she is passionate about the mental health implications of genetic identity family secrets that commercial DNA testing is revealing.

Steven Scholl

Steven Scholl is an independent scholar of Islam and comparative religion. He has lived and traveled extensively in the Middle East after doing his graduate studies in Islamic philosophy and history at McGill University. Steve is the founding publisher of White Cloud Press and is the editor of several books including "The Peace Bible:  Words from the Great Traditions" and "Common Era: Best New Writings on Religion." He writes on religion and culture for newspapers and magazines and is a contributor to the "Encyclopedia of Religion" (ed. by Mircea Eliade). His new book is “Muhammad,” co-written with Sam Deeb.

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