As Vice President and Chief Creative Officer at RAA, Aki provides vision and oversees creative direction and output. She is a lead voice of planning and design inside and outside the firm, articulating its vision, sharing the work, and promoting holistic thinking about making public spaces for learning.

RAA is the world’s largest multidisciplinary design studio for museums and narrative environments. Aki's current work at RAA includes leading the exhibition design for the museum at the Obama Presidential Center in Chicago, IL; the Japanese American National Museum in Los Angeles, CA; the Thaddeus Stevens and Lydia Smith Hamilton Historic Site & Museum in Lancaster, PA; the National Underground Railroad Freedom Center in Cincinnati, OH;  The Freedom Rides Museum in Montgomery, Alabama; and advising the International Slavery Museum and Maritime Museum in Liverpool, UK. Her most recently opened project included the creative direction for the exhibition design for the National Museum of African American History and Culture in Washington, D.C and the International African American Museum in Charleston, SC.

Aki brings thoughtful and responsive design leadership to the development of national and international cultural institutions, from content-and artifact-rich museum environments to brand development for large and small organizations. Her passion and experience is dedicated to the development of national and international cultural institutions, with a focus on issues- and mission-based projects. She believes that a visitor experience is most memorable when the design is driven by the story. Aki’s past and current projects seek to tell some of the most important stories of history and leadership and many address topics of social justice, activism, and community. She collaborates with curators, scholars, directors, and executives to tell compelling stories and engage the public through a range of 2D, 3D and interactive techniques. Through environmental, exhibition, and identity design, she creates experiences that inspire and connect audiences and reveal our shared humanity. 

Her past work includes art direction for the Bernice Pauahi Bishop Museum, Honolulu, Hawaii; the Mandela Day installation at New York’s Grand Central Terminal; and Nationwide Children’s Hospital, Columbus, Ohio; all of which have won major design awards. Aki is co-founder of BIPOC Directors Collective, an initiative by Directors of Color for fellow and future Directors of Color. She is also a founding member and Creative Director for Ripple Effect, a New Orleans based environmental education start-up dedicated to K-12 education about socio-ecological issues of climate change. Aki lives in Brooklyn with her husband.

Awards and Publications

SEGD Global Design Award: Merit Award 2017

Graphis Design Annual: Silver Award 2017

Spaces, Places, & Cities category in Fast Company’s 2017 Innovation by Design Awards

Gold, Best Scenography for a Permanent Collection, 2017 International Design & Communication Awards

GOOD DESIGN Award, Chicago Atheneum, 2017 Good Design Awards

Finalist, Industrial Design Society of America, 2016 IDEA Awards

Graphis Design Annual 2014, Gold, Silver

IDSA IDEA Award Finalist 2014

Communication Arts Design Annual 54, September/October 2013

Event Design, Best Permanent Installation, Gold Winner, Best Graphical Treatment 2013

Silver Winner, 2011 Industrial Design Excellence Awards (IDEA)

Published in "Designing Diagrams: Making Information Accessible through Design", BIS Publishers, 2011

Applied Arts Design and Advertising Awards 2010

Print Magazine, 2010 Regional Design Annual

Finalist, 2010 Industrial Design Excellence Awards, IDEA

Gold Winner, Best Permanent Installation / 2009 Event Design Awards

Gold Winner, Best Graphical Treatment / 2009 Event Design Awards

Gold Award / Graphis Design Annual 2009

Gold award in the Industrial Designers Society of America IDEA Competition 2008

Society for Environmental Graphic Design Honor Award 2007, Exhibit Design/Museums

Print Magazine, 2007 Regional Design Annual

Digital Out of Home Awards, Most Innovative Content/Advertising Integration

5th Annual Davey Awards, Silver Award

39th Annual Creativity Awards, Silver Award

14th Annual Webby Awards, Official Honoree

One Show Design, Merit Award

American Institute of Architects, National Honor Award to the Liberty Memorial Association

Industrial Designers Society of America, Gold Industrial Design Excellence Award, Museum Exhibits and Set Design

Exhibition & Environmental Clients

Bernice Paul Bishop Museum, Honolulu HI
BHSS: "Through Our Eyes" Youth Activism Exhibition, Harlem NY
BHSS: P.S.186: A Dream Deferred, Harlem NY
Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation Visitor Center, Seattle WA
Dallas Museum of Nature and Science, Dallas TX
George Washington Carver National Monument, Diamond MO
JAHA Children's Discovery Center, Johnstown PA
Las Vegas Lied Children's Discovery Museum, Las Vegas NV
Liberty Memorial National WWI Museum, Kansas City MO
Museum of Nature and Science, Dallas TX
Museum of the City of New York, NY NY
National Museum of African American History and Culture, Washington DC
National Women's History Museum, Washington DC
Nationwide Children's Hospital, Columbus OH
Nelson Mandela Day Installation, Grand Central Terminal, NY NY
Salem National Maritime Historical Site, Salem MA
Samsung World Headquarters, Seoul Korea
Staten Island Historical Society, Staten Island NY
Songdo City, Seoul Korea
The Intrepid Battleship, New York NY
Timex National Headquarters, Middlebury CT
Washita Battlefield National Historic Site, Cheyenne OK

Print & Web Clients

22TEETH
5W Public Relations
Apt 14k
Breaking Ground NY
CornerShop
David Carson
Dime Magazine
Fishman & Tobin
Georgia Children's Museum
Ginkgo Press
Idlewild Bookstore
Izod Boys
Jared Margolis
Laughlin Joseph
Mediated Spaces
 

Mr Black / Table 50 Lounge
Museum Access Consortium
Neverstop Publishing
Nike
RealGreen Power
Reed Space
Ripple Effect
Sean John Boys
Staple / Staple Sounds
The Wedding Embassy
US Golf Open
VH1 Music
WildLabs
Wells Fargo