Growing up in the Netherlands, Xueli navigated the challenges of living with both a visible condition (albinism) and an invisible one (dyslexia). She often felt that people focused more on what she couldn't do than what she could. However, at the age of 11, she was introduced to the world of modeling through a designer friend of her mother who wanted to showcase "perfect imperfections".
: She founded the Open Eyes Foundation to increase visibility and accessibility for others like her. The Meaning of "Asia M"
By 16, Xueli had transitioned from being a child left at an orphanage to a . She used her rising platform to:
Xue Li was born with , a rare genetic condition that many in China at the time viewed as a curse or a sign of bad luck. At age three, her life changed forever when she was adopted by a family from the Netherlands. Her new mother chose to keep her birth name, believing it perfectly described her unique beauty. A New Vision of Beauty
The story of —born Xue Li —is a real-life tale of resilience and transformation that began in China and led to the international runways of the high-fashion world. The Abandoned Snow Beauty