From the time Rachel Weiner was a little girl, she dreamed of one thing more than anything else—a little sister. Adopted as a baby from Bogotá, Colombia, Rachel grew up in the U.S. with loving adoptive parents and an older brother, also adopted. But in her heart, something always felt missing.
“I used to ask my parents every day between the ages of 4 and 10 to adopt another girl,” Rachel, now 26, told. “It started as a joke, but deep down, it was always serious.”
Her parents, kind and supportive, would laugh and say they wished they could do it just to make her happy. But ultimately, they were content with their two children. As Rachel got older, she came to understand—and eventually let go of—the idea.
That is, until 2025. A message from a stranger turned everything she thought she knew upside down.
Rachel, who now lives in New York, had started opening up about her adoption journey on social media. Under the handle @rachellannaa, she shared her story to help others connect and navigate the complex emotions of adoption. She had already found her biological mother in 2021 and felt compelled to share how she did it.
“I figured, if I was going to have a social media presence, I wanted it to matter,” she said. “Whether people had found their birth families or were still searching, I hoped it would offer connection—or at least comfort.”
Her videos caught attention online, but nothing prepared her for what happened next.
In February 2025, she received a direct message from a woman living in Sweden. The message was simple but strange: the woman said she knew Rachel’s biological mother. That alone made Rachel pause. Very few people—not even casual acquaintances—knew her birth mother’s name.
Her curiosity piqued, Rachel kept chatting. The woman went on to say she also knew Rachel’s birth name and her biological father’s name.
That’s when it hit her: Could this be the sister I always wished for?
As it turned out, yes. The woman on the other end was Emelie Moe, a 25-year-old adopted from Colombia as well—Rachel’s full biological sister. Emelie had known about Rachel her entire life, thanks to a detail tucked into her adoption papers. But Rachel had never been told about Emelie.
“She told me she first saw me in a random non-adoption-related video and thought we looked alike,” Rachel recalled. “But when my adoption story came across her feed, she just knew—’This is my sister.’”
They quickly set up a FaceTime call that stretched to two hours. Emelie had always longed to find her older sister. Now, thanks to a twist of fate—and an Instagram algorithm—she had.
In the beginning, both were understandably cautious. But within weeks, they had built the kind of easy, natural bond only siblings understand.
“We’re at the same stage of life and always will be,” Rachel said. “We’re in our twenties now, but we’ll go through every decade together. It feels so good to know that.”
For Emelie, the moment was surreal. She’d always known her sister was out there, but she was scared to reach out—worried she might not be welcomed.
“I always wanted to find her since I read about her in my adoption papers,” Emelie shared. “I was the girl who knew she had a sister but couldn’t have her in my life. Now I do. I’m just so much happier—it feels like everything’s better with her in it.”
In June, Rachel flew to Sweden to celebrate Emelie’s birthday—and to meet her in person for the very first time. It wasn’t just a sisterly reunion; Rachel also made sure Emelie got the chance to connect with their biological mother, setting up a group video call. Their hope now? To travel to Colombia together and meet her face-to-face.
They may have missed more than two decades of shared memories, but they’re making up for it—fast.
“It’s wild how normal it feels,” Emelie said. “Like we’ve known each other forever.”
For Rachel, it’s a dream come true: not just discovering she’s a big sister, but becoming one—offering the kind of support, love, and laughter she always hoped to share.
And it all happened because of one Instagram video.
“If I hadn’t posted on social media,” she said, “I would have never found out I had a sister. Sometimes you just have to trust your gut and believe something good might come of it.”
