Emily Yoshida: Founding HCCLU Member & Rising Star

As happens when interviewing others, I had to know why she had chosen CLU. For Emily, CLU was actually her last choice. Her college counselor let her know about CLU and it turned out that this was her most affordable choice. It also did not hurt that her first campus tour everyone was dream-like nice.

“I always want to ask people, ‘Why are you this nice?’ It’s so weird to me, because I lived in the city and 60% of the time it’s rude people. I love the niceness in the suburban life, even though it’s not for me.”

The niceness, like for many other people, is actually one of her favorite things from spending two years on campus now. Learning things from people on campus has changed Emily — and for good!– she feels like her character has changed and has brought her more out of her shell. Being in clubs like Her Campus and Humans of Cal Lutheran really have challenged her way of viewing others and herself. This has opened her up to people and experiences on campus she might not have tried before!

“Student involvement is great too. Everyone is so involved and everyone wants to do something in school, like a job or sports, and that’s what makes the school so great. It makes me happy, you know?”

 

 

Who has not been inspired by Disney? Our founding member Yoshida is seen sporting the good classic Mickey Mouse ears, and is not afraid to say what we all experienced growing up with the stars on TV. Her love for the pop industry has shown since she sparked an interest in the Hannah Montana show. Let’s admit it, we all need a little spark of young best-of-both-worlds Miley. This was just one of the shows that powered her early dreams of pursuing singing and songwriting.

“I think the pop industry is so interesting. It evolves around people sampling things and making different artistic choices to impact the public. It makes me wonder, how is the pop genre going to be in the next decade?”

Slowly but surely, Yoshida has taken her own road to create an Emily Empire. Even on our on campus station, Emily represents Her Campus Cal Lutheran for an hour long special on Fridays (exclusively for iCLU radio). If you’re interested then you can also tune in and enjoy the broadcasting!

Disney, 2016 Courtesy of Emily Yoshida

Coming from a place where Earthquakes are quite common, Emily explained to me the location of her town by referencing a recent one that had just happened near by. This town that we spoke of is just one of the many places Emily grew up in. Born in Honolulu, Emily grew up in Kyushu, Japan for five years and then spent one year in Maryland. Having some HCCLU friends as roommates at CLU helped Emily learn more about what it meant to have grown up in the Suburban area for a long time. 

“Hawaii is so different from other states. We are such a big mix of cultures, it’s really interesting. We have all that jazz of treating uncles, parents, grown ups differently. Japanese culture is very different as well.”

Coming from this background Emily was not really sure how to go about Suburban life. Meeting her new roommates on campus, who had been living in Suburban life forever, made the culture shock she was experiencing even more real. She has experienced a melting pot of traditions, from American to Asian culture, with different ways of doing things and interacting with people.

She was used to treating adults differently and doing things like taking her shoes off before entering a building or a house. Coming to the more westernized society made her realize that simple things like that can be different and cause an impact. 

“Have you seen My Big Fat Greek Wedding? Yeah, that’s me. My mother is so Japanese, everything has to be Japanese! I was an angsty teenager and when she asked me to act and speak the language, I was like ‘Okay I’ll do it just because I love you.’”

Her Campus Cal Lutheran: Tell us something not everyone knows about you!