Adèle Farag was born in Changsha, the capital of the Hunan province in China, and after adoption as a baby grew up in Jackson Hole, Wyoming in a predominantly White community. She has a degree in psychology from CSU Channel Islands and works as a college adviser for high school students. She loves making art, teaching art, working with kids, singing, karaoke, getting outside in nature, traveling, and being surrounded by the people she loves.

In Part 1 of a two-part interview, Adèle reflects on her beginnings as a baby in China, her adoptive mother’s decision to adopt, and her first return trip to China when adopting her sister. She talks about the lack of diversity and exposure to her birth culture in Jackson Hole, Wyoming, where she was part of a group of friends who were also of Chinese descent and adopted and called themselves The Chinese Chopstick Sisters. She also describes her experience with ancestry.com as she sought biological siblings and information about her DNA. She concludes Part 1 with the story of moving to Los Angeles with no job and little money and getting into a car accident on the way, and how she feels being in a community where more people who look like her.