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Michael Gaither was born in Syracuse, New York, on February 1, 1972. He spent about eighteen months in foster care there before a white family in Lincoln, Nebraska, adopted him. He grew up with a white brother who was also adopted and a younger sister who was his parents' biological child. In just about every room of his childhood, from school to church to family holidays, he was the only Black person.

He went to Sheridan Elementary, Lefler Junior High and Lincoln High. In seventh grade he met Mr. Carroll, his first Black teacher, and that man changed the direction of his life. After two years of junior college he transferred to Nebraska Wesleyan University and graduated.

Michael spent 30 years in education as a teacher and a principal, and 13 of those years running his own executive leadership coaching business for school principals. He taught fourth grade in Raleigh, North Carolina, and led schools in Denver. Over those years he sat across from hundreds of kids wearing the labels he once wore, like difficult, lazy and unmotivated.

At 34 he called his birth mother for the first time, and she hung up in under two minutes. Fifteen years later, at 49, a DNA test and a volunteer search angel led him back to his family in Syracuse, and in July 2021 he stood at his birth mother's door.

He founded Beyond the Moment Adoption Studio in 2026 and coaches white parents raising Black children one on one. He lives in The Villages, Florida.

Born in Syracuse, home again at 49. Michael left Syracuse at eighteen months old with no name or photo to go on. At 34 he found his birth mother's number and called, and she hung up. Fifteen years later a DNA test led him to his 91-year-old grandmother, then to his birth mother, then to a family reunion in a Syracuse park, where his green eyes showed up on other faces.

The only Black kid in the room in 1970s and 1980s Lincoln. Michael grew up at Sheridan Elementary, Lefler Junior High and Lincoln High, where his neighborhood, school and church were almost all white. He talks about the teasing and the running away, and about Mr. Carroll, the Black teacher who changed the direction of his life.

The principal who used to be the kid in trouble. As a third grader Michael crawled between his teacher's legs to get out of class, and the head of Sheridan Elementary chased him down the sidewalk. He grew up to become a principal himself. A tough kid in his office never looked hopeless to him, because he'd been that kid.

A first-time author in The Villages. As a boy Michael dreamed about a life far from Lincoln, and he found it in The Villages, Florida. He retired from a long career in schools and wrote the book he wishes his own parents had been handed.

National Adoption Month and National Adoption Day. November celebrates the day families are made, and National Adoption Day falls on Saturday, November 21, 2026. Michael's message for those families is that the signed papers are only the start. He can speak to what adoptive parents can do after the court date, from talking about race at home to making sure Black adults are part of their child's everyday life.