My name is Elle DuMont and I have been working at Phillips Edison & Company since August as a marketing intern. I am happy to share my diversity story and share experiences that made me the person I am today.

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I was born in China, in the Hunan Province, and was found in a basket outside of a school, with a note stating my birthday and my name, Yue Can. I was taken to an orphanage where I lived for a few months before my parents decided they wanted to adopt me. I flew back home to the U.S. with my mom and dad, Tim and Tina DuMont, and started my new life in Cincinnati, Ohio in 2002. A year later, my parents decided to adopt another girl from China. They journeyed back to Asia to a different providence to bring back my beautiful sister Katherine.

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As early as elementary school, I knew that there was something different about me. All the other kids had parents with the same skin color, and I was aware of the second glance adults or other children would give me. It was not until fourth grade, I started to feel ashamed of my differences. Around this time, my classmates began teasing me, asking uncomfortable questions like if I was born from a panda and making jokes about my eyes pulling theirs back to mimic mine. I remember asking my mom that year if I could paint my skin white and dye my hair. I wanted nothing but to fit in. And at this point in my life, the word “diversity” had a dirty, humiliating meaning.

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It only got worse from here as I found myself being interrogated about my race in ways that led me to feel even more self-conscious and embarrassed. I was constantly called “white-washed” something that hurt and confused me to hear. I remember one time; a nail technician asked me if I preferred my real mom or my fake “sub” mom, suggesting my adoptive mother was not in fact my real mother. Questions like these and comments made about “my people” were consistent and I eventually learned how to stand up for myself.