Ligia Noemi Cushman M.A. is the daughter of immigrants from the Dominican Republic, one of eight children, and the mother of one son through adoption. In her award-winning book, Heard: How Loss Led Us to Love, Ligia captures the night her son was born and the many hard experiences she and her family encountered as a multiracial family in the deep South.

Ligia graduated with her first master’s degree in 2004 with a concentration in Human Services. In 2016, Ligia obtained her second master's degree in professional counseling from Liberty University.

In 2019, Ligia completed the Minority Professional Leadership Development Program through AdoptUSKids and learned what it meant to be a transformational leader. She also learned that her Afro-Latina voice mattered. That program catapulted Ligia to address racial equity in the child welfare system. Ligia’s ongoing mission is to equip multiracial families with the resources they need to thrive in a world that often wants to put us in a box. She strives to have authentic conversations about how class, culture, and race differences impact adoption in today's world.

In 2020, Ligia’s blog was listed by Healthline Parenthood as one of the best adoption blogs of 2020. Ligia is also a 2021 recipient of the Top Latino Leader Award by the National Council on Diversity. As the National Child Welfare Consultant with AdoptUSKids, Ligia helps States, Tribes, and Territories build the capacity to care for children and families in ways that bring equity to child welfare and strengthen our communities.

Recently, Ligia was featured in an interview and an article for NBC News Now, where she discussed her Afro-Latina experiences and how that has shaped how she navigates life as a woman of color. Telemundo also featured Ligia naming her a Mujer Imparable (Unstoppable Woman) for National Adoption Month. In this feature, Ligia shared about adoption and the need for more families of color to foster and adopt

As an author, blogger, child welfare consultant, and international speaker Ligia frequently speaks on transracial adoption, racial reconciliation, her Afro-Latina story, and how transformational leadership impacted all aspects of her life. Believing that multiracial families can thrive is what drives her work.