About me

Welcome! I’m Yui, and I’m so glad we’ve found each other.

I have always been fascinated by people and places. I’ve been lucky enough to have lived in and travelled to many parts of the world as a young person. I’ve also always been inquisitive about my surroundings, much to the irritation of my family! These questions quickly became about the stark inequalities in the world and how we can change them: why do some children live in war zones and why do I live in safety? How do I have everything I need and others are hungry? What can I do as an individual to change even a small corner of the world?

I’ve brought my passion for places and inquisitiveness together in my fifteen year career as a human geographer. As a human geographer, I talk to people about the why of where. In doing so, I work to reveal some of our society’s most pressing and complex social questions: Why are some places doing well and others are not? How do local decision makers decide which budget priorities receive funding? How do social movements, activists, and residents build livable and thriving communities? Find out more about my research here.

In the summer of 2021, I found myself at a crossroads: listen to my brain and take a one-year, prestigious postdoctoral fellowship or listen to my gut and take a position with Public Health – Seattle & King County (PHSKC). Read more about my process here. These days, I feed my curiosity about cities and inequality as a Social Research Scientist at PHSKC while continuing to participate in academic pursuits. At PHSKC, I am the lead evaluator for a community-engaged project to create and implement culturally and linguistically appropriate COVID-19 guidance and health care for Black, Indigenous, and people of color communities.

I learned from the transition that I didn’t have to be inside of the academy to engage in the parts I love. There are ways to align who I am outside of work—being close to family, living in a city I enjoy—with my professional work.

When I’m not at my desk, you can find me outside somewhere. I’m often going for walks to the playground with my niblings, hiking in the mountains or by the ocean, or running on a trail. If the Pacific Northwest’s rain becomes too much, I’m sweating on a yoga mat, cooking and baking, or tending to my plants.