The first time Mary Bowers crossed a border, she was an infant with a falsified background and no say in the matter. She grew up to manage some of the most complex federal construction in the United States, delivering border and airport infrastructure across the Pacific and Southwest regions. She knows the nuances of how these systems work, and where they fail the people crossing them. She speaks to borders and human rights from both sides of the experience.

She is among the adoptees whose cases were formally investigated by South Korea’s Truth and Reconciliation Commission, which confirmed systemic human rights violations in the intercountry adoption system. Her search for answers has taken her to the UN Committee on Enforced Disappearances and to the National Assembly of Korea, where she has contributed analysis, policy briefings, and direct testimony.

Along the way she became one of the world’s top ranked competitive eaters, and a nine time competitor at the Nathan’s Famous International Hot Dog Eating Contest. For someone whose body and identity were taken before she could speak, choosing to occupy space loudly and publicly became a meaningful act of strength and reclamation.