I'm not exaggerating when I say that music is pretty much my entire life. Years ago, I read an article about finding one's "ikigai" - and as a Japanese-American, I was fascinated. "Ikigai" can be loosely described as someone's reason for getting up in the morning. It encompasses 1) what you love, 2) what you're good at, 3) what the world needs, 4) what you can be paid for. I have come to understand that music is very much my ikigai.

I've been a musician my whole life - I grew up Mormon, so one of my earliest memories is going to hear the Mormon Tabernacle Choir sing live. I knew from that moment that I wanted to sing in a choir, and that shaped most of my schooling and extracurricular choices from grade school through college, and eventually became my career. Even though I'm not Mormon anymore, sacred music is part of my DNA - and I've come to appreciate how important it is in both weekly communal worship and in building a personal relationship with God. While music is, for me, the medium through which I find spiritual connection, I also truly believe it is one of the most restorative and empowering forces for good in the world. It is my honor to serve at StGs as Music Minister, a capacity in which I take no greater joy than encouraging people of all ages and all skill levels to experience the transformative power of music.

In addition to serving as the StGs Music Minister, I also am the Engagement Minister - which means I am somewhat of a jack-of-all-trades! I craft liturgy, organize the liturgical ministers for Sunday worship, create the bulletins, coordinate worship and social activities with our Better Together partners, and am responsible for all the technical aspects of our worship (the Zoom meeting, live-streaming, camera and audio equipment, etc).

When I'm not at StGs I work as a professional chorister, singing with many organizations including the Chicago Symphony Chorus, the Grant Park Festival Chorus, the Fort Wayne Philharmonic, the Florentine Opera of Milwaukee, the High Holy Days Choir of Temple Sholom, the studio recording choir for World Library Publications, and many freelance singing gigs all over the city.

In my blink-and-you'll-miss-it spare time, I love doing hands-on projects around the house and playing with my dog Charlie and cat Bella. I have a strange love of mowing lawns, reading anatomy textbooks for fun, embroidering silly things, and changing my hair color frequently (so if you come to StGs I'm easily spotted as the one with some unspeakably unnatural shade of hair!).