miss geo 2015 | gardena, california

as of thursday, april 2nd, 2015, i am the newly selected miss gardena evening optimist (geo)/south bay 2015 for the 75th annual nisei week festival.

with former miss geo/nisei week 2010, jill, and miss geo 2014, tiffany.

for those of you not familiar with geo, it is an organization which serves the local community by hosting a youth tennis league, sponsoring a boy scout troop, supporting other local organizations such as the japanese cultural institute, and sponsoring a nisei week candidate. geo is sponsored by the japanese american optimist club of los angeles (jao). geo and jao are 2 clubs of over 2,500 which make up optimist international. optimist international is a worldwide volunteer organization whose members work each day to make the future brighter by bringing out the best in children, in their communities, and in themselves.

geo logo

now, for those of you not familiar with nisei week festival, it is an annual week-long festival which celebrates japanese-american culture and history. in japanese, "nisei" means second generation and refers to the american born children of japanese immigrants. nisei week originally began in 1934 to attract more business in little tokyo from the nisei. now, the festival attracts people of all different backgrounds. their mission is to promote japanese and japanese-american hertiage and tradition while bringing together the diverse communities of southern california through arts and cultural education. the queen pageant started in 1935 and has since had 74 nisei week queens. the queen and court travel to san francisco, seattle, hawaii and japan attending local festivals while representing the japanese-american community of los angeles. throughout the year, the court also attends numerous community events. up until a couple months ago, i didn't know much about nisei week except from what i remember as a kid. it was a festival that as a japanese-american, i grew up going to and knew of older girls that participated in the court. but, it was anever something i saw myself pursuing.

nisei week logo

it wasn't until i was working one day and i bumped into an old friend's mom who told me i should apply for nisei week court. and because i didn't know much about it except that they wore dresses and a crown, i rejected the idea. she was persistent though and told me she would get me in contact with someone from the geo selection committee. once i did the research and spoke with a few former nisei week princesses, i decided to apply. it sounded too good of an opportunity to pass up. a couple of days after i submitted my application, i received an email confirming my interview. i was nervous and excited to say the least. nervous because i knew there was going to be tough competition for the position and because i didn't want to let anyone down. after days of preparation, i was ready for my interview. the interview itself only lasted 30 minutes with a panel of 6 interviewers -- 3 former miss geo's and 3 geo members. when i walked out of the interview, i felt confident, but also felt i could have done better. i also recognized a familiar face, an old friend from high school, who was also interviewing for the position. i thought to myself, if i lost the position to her then i wouldn't even be disappointed in myself and if they didn't choose either of us then i knew the selected girl was going to be amazing. i was told i would hear back the next day on whether or not i would be selected.

after what seemed like the longest day of my life, by 12 p.m., no reply. then 2 p.m., no reply. at this point i was thinking, "okay, they probably already sent the congratulatory email and are just waiting to send out the rejections." then 3 p.m. came and i thought, "okay, well i did my best and whoever those chose deserves it." 4 p.m., "okay, where is my rejection email? they had to have chosen the girl by now." then, i got my email. the first two lines read, "thank you so much for taking the time for applying and interviewing for the miss geo candidate position. it was very nice interviewing you and getting to know you." that's it. i didn't get it. then in the second paragraph, "you were selected as the 2015 miss geo!" my jaw dropped and i screamed, which probably wasn't a good idea since i was working at the front desk at the time. i couldn't believe i was selected. i was most excited to share the news with my parents, boyfriend, boss, and co-workers. 

a week later, i had my crowning at cherrystones restaurant in gardena. having it at cherrystones seemed appropriate since i've had many celebrations there including birthday's, tennis banquets, etc. the rafu shimpo, the local japanese-english newspaper, even made an appearance! i met the geo president, justin caroll, other geo members, and miss geo 2014, tiffany. my parents, sister, and 3 of my closest friends came to support me. my friends even brought me flowers! i was overwhelmed by all the support. i gave my first speech where i talked about my background and gave thanks to the selection committee. it definitely was a rough speech to say the least. it was short night, but a memorable one nonetheless and was the official start of my nisei week journey.

with geo members and former miss geo's

now that i'm settled in as the incoming miss geo, i will begin my training for the nisei week festival at the end of this month. i'm not too sure what it will entail but from what i'm told, i will be taught how to walk, talk, and act like a "princess." i will also have weekly dance rehearsals and cultural classes; all of which i'm very excited for (not being sarcastic)! i definitely wouldn't consider myself a "girly-girl" and i clearly need to improve my public speaking skills so i'm looking forward to seeing myself grow over the next few months. and of course, i'm looking forward to the next year of traveling and meeting the other nisei week candidates! it is going to be a crazy year, but i'm ready. thank you to everyone who has supported me so far and who will continue to support me in the next year. if you're still reading, thank you to you too :)