With experience spanning marketing, advertising, consulting, commercial and feature film production, T. Alex Blum is well known throughout the creative and production communities.
However, as his new book–”An Accident of Birth”–chronicles, Blum wasn’t always in the know when it came to aspects of his own life and familial roots.
In “An Accident of Birth,” Blum shares the life-altering discovery he made at the age of 60–namely that he was the eldest of four biological brothers he never knew existed. The revelation came when a stranger who turned out to be Blum’s niece received an extra 23andMe test by mistake. Blum, who was born in 1955, had always known he was adopted, yet the secrecy of the era kept every detail of his origins sealed. He spent decades without a single clue about where he came from, or why he had been given up.
Raised by a wealthy family on Manhattan’s Upper East Side, Blum grew up surrounded by privilege but plagued by a deep sense of disconnection. He often felt out of place and emotionally unmoored, yearning for a sense of belonging that never arrived.
Having built a career helping others tell their stories, first for brands as a commercial producer and then as a feature film producer–with credits including Behind Enemy Lines and Flight of the Phoenix for 20th Century Fox–Blum finally puts the lens on himself in “An Accident of Birth.”
More than a memoir of adoption and reunion, “An Accident of Birth” explores the universal emotional landscape shared by adoptees everywhere. With candid, affecting prose, Blum examines the pressures of “adoptee gratitude,” the quiet ache of alienation, and the lifelong search for identity, connection, and home.
Published by UnCollected Press, “An Accident of Birth” debuts next week. Pre-ordering for audiobook and Kindle is underway. The paperback will come out on May 12.
Advertising pedigree
Blum currently teams with Andrea Ruskin to lead San Diego-based Blum Consulting Partners, which earned distinction when it was included in the 2025 Inc. 5000 list of the fastest-growing private companies in America. Ranked by Inc. at #117 nationally among marketing, advertising and PR companies, Blum Consulting Partners benefits from co-founder Blum’s ad industry pedigree.
Blum currently teams with Andrea Ruskin to lead San Diego-based Blum Consulting Partners, which earned distinction when it was included in the 2025 Inc. 5000 list of the fastest-growing private companies in America. Ranked by Inc. at #117 nationally among marketing, advertising and PR companies, Blum Consulting Partners benefits from co-founder Blum’s ad industry pedigree.
As partner/executive producer of the production company Headquarters, Blum turned out award-winning commercials and branded content. He also had a stint on the agency side at Lintas, Paris.
During his tenure at the now former Headquarters, Blum served in such major industry roles as AICP chairman and head of the AICP national labor committee.
