University of Hawaii at Manoa Alumni Party in Roppongi
UHM Rainbow Warriors Volleyball team literally towering over me!
We should all make a LinkedIn account because that’s how you get invited to these awesome dinner parties!
UH Foundation Office of Alumni Relations (IG: uhmalumni) slipped into my DMs, and wanted to feature me in the upcoming issue of “Made at Manoa”
They were gathering alumni and reporting on life after graduating.
I graduated from UHM in 2016 with a Bachelor’s of Fine Arts, and life has been quite interesting after graduation. I am still in the creativity field and building things from scratch from my own perspective. That’s what artists do, right?
This was my first time receiving an invitation to a reunion.
Since the UHM Rainbow Warrior Men’s Volleyball team and UHM Provost, Michael Bruno happened to be in Tokyo due to school events, a victorious match with Tsukuba University in Ibaraki and such, they hosted an alumni Pau Hana on November 12, 2023 at Ruth Chris Steakhouse in Roppongi.
This is a full circle moment for me because during the Covid-19 pandemic in 2020, I worked at a dental clinic across the street and passed by this bougie restaurant twice a day. “One day, I’m going to save up and dine here.” Three years later, I got to do that… for free!
Austin Buchanan #12 (IG: @austnbuchanan) plays setter for the team. He was the first one to recognize me and so we fan-girled a bit. I had a blast talking to him and other players about all the cool things they did during their trip to Osaka, Kyoto and Tokyo.
I hope I can someday show the UHM sports team around Japan on Cyber Bunny Tours in the future! We’d have so much fun!
UHM Provost, Michael Bruno and I did the Gyaru-pose LOL.
They had steak and free-flowing bar!!
There were also other UHM Alumni who are working and living in Tokyo that I am glad I connected with! My senpais!
The Next Day…
The UHM photographer and UHAA staff met up with me in Harajuku to take some photos and videos for their social media and “Made at Manoa” issue.
These are questions I was asked:
1) Why did you choose to attend UH Manoa?
I wanted to stay close to home and pay instate tuition. (Sorry this isn’t inspiring…)
2) What is your favorite memory or experience from the UHM campus?
Dorming.
3) How did you end up being a social medial influencer and how did UHM play a role in your career?
UHM tested my passion from freshman year. I originally started my college journey studying Food Science and Human Nutrition because I thought my parents would be proud if I were in the medical field, but I failed miserably because I was horrible at multiple choice exams and organic chemistry. I finally decided to listen to my heart and switched to an art major in my sophomore year, and soon later excelled in completing projects, essays and presentations.
I see content creation is like performance art. Art is subjective and not everyone is going to like your art. The UHM Art Department focused heavily on critiques, and it taught me how to accept constructive criticism with grace. In the world of social media, it is important to not take things personally reading negative comments from haterz. You are constantly being judged and compared to others by strangers, and that's part of the job.
Coming Soon: Check out the short video they made! This bunny was very nervous talking on the fly!
The photos turned out great! Here’s a sneak peak:
Photo courtesy of University of Hawaii at Manoa.
