The activist's mother told The Intercept that her daughter's name was Rachel Elizabeth Seidel, and she was actually of European descent.
"I’m as White as the driven snow and so is she," Carol Perone said, adding, "I don’t know why she’s doing what she’s doing…She’s chosen to live a lie, and I find that very, very sad."
Raquel Evita Saraswati a senior inclusion officer at a progressive organization has been accused of lying about her ethnicity.
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According to old photographs and interviews with people who knew her when she was younger, Saraswati appeared to start wearing progressively darker shades of makeup to match her identity, the Intercept reported.
Photographs from the 39-year-old woman's past in the open letter show she was called Rachel Seidel in a childhood yearbook photo before changing her first and middle name in college.
The letter alleged this hadn't been the first attempt to expose Saraswati and she had gone to great lengths to scrub evidence that contradicted her story from the internet.
Oskar Pierre Castro, a human resources professional who helped hire Saraswati, told The Intercept he felt "deceived" because she had presented herself as a "queer, Muslim, multiethnic woman."
Castro hailed how her diverse identity "really touched all the points" of "lived experience" they were looking for in filling the DEI position.
Rachel Dolezal, president of the Spokane chapter of the NAACP, on March 2, 2015 also was exposed as a White woman pretending to be a person of color.
"In my mind it was, ‘Great, a person of color, a queer person of color, who happens to be a Muslim, it’s a woman, all these things, and someone who seemed to get it," he told the outlet. "I definitely feel conned. … I feel deceived."
Saraswati did not respond to Fox News Digital's request for comment.
The American Friends Service Committee told Fox News Digital they were committed to equity and ending racism, before calling the controversy a "deeply personal issue."
Saraswati's employer said they were considering "ways to move forward in a thoughtful and humane way."
"AFSC’s Chief Equity, Inclusion, and Culture Officer is currently facing public allegations that she misrepresented her background and past associations. She assures us that she remains loyal to AFSC’s mission, and we believe her. This is a deeply personal issue and as her employer we respect her privacy. We do not require any employee to prove their race or ethnicity as a condition of employment. That would be unethical and illegal," the representative added.
The AFSC said they were listening to multiple perspectives and would act within their values of "kindness, grace, integrity and care for all individuals."
Social media users recalled how Saraswati's story reminded them of infamous race-hoaxer and former NAACP chapter president Rachel Dolezal.
The controversial story comes at a time when high-priced Diversity, Equity and Inclusion (DEI) jobs are being cut across industries.