My name is Summer Ray and I am Cambodian, French, Persian, and Chinese on my mom’s side and German, Irish, and English on my dad’s side. My mom was born in Cambodia and her parents were assassinated by the Khmer Rouge. My mom and her siblings were then sent to the U.S. and were raised by family friends. She eventually met my dad, a California native. The combination of my ethnicity is truly unique and something I enjoy about myself very much.

People often ask me about my ethnicity because of my very fair skin and almond shape eyes. Some people are surprised when they hear I am part Asian while others are curious about what kind of Asian I am. I have a lot of people tell me how exotic I look. I have never been called a “hapa” except by my aunt on my mom’s side who uses it to describe a mixture of ethnicities. I love being mixed and would never want it any other way!