Hi. I’m Yuna. This is a little bit about me.

the short story

I am a trilingual Marketer, Project Manager, Artist, and Consultant with a BCom from UBC and a passion for all things design. I am a storyteller and a problem-solver; whether I’m making art or a speech, I communicate with purpose, confidence, and eloquence. I am a proven leader and a seasoned teammate. Beyond the office and classroom, I enjoy good food and good conversations.

the long story

I was born in Okayama, Japan, but was whisked away at the tender age of one to grow up in the much more foreign and exotic land of Burnaby, BC, where my mother hustled hard to make her dream of me becoming a doctor a reality. Young(-er) and angsty(-er), I obliged by focussing my high school academics on the sciences (made substantially easier by an incredible biology teacher who fooled me into thinking I enjoyed it – and to whom I owe any interest I have ever possessed for medicine… thanks, Mr. Callister), all the while nursing a secret passion for art. A passion, in fact, that led me to teach myself Photoshop before I even learned algebra.

That passion was the foundation for my very first venture into business. When friends asked me to help them design t-shirts or posters for clubs and events, I happily obliged. Eventually, people started offering to pay me for my services. Thus, I became a freelancer – though, head buried in biology textbooks, I didn’t realize it at the time.

In all honesty, I was almost as shocked as my mother when two days before the deadline, I released all my pent-up resentment and switched my university application from Science to Commerce – though I daresay I wasn’t quite as upset as she. After getting over the initial heartbreak of never having a doctor in the family, she encouraged me at every opportunity to pursue finance or accounting. But because the whole point of applying to business school was to spite her, I spent my first and second years doing as much marketing as I possibly could. It turns out, fortunately, that my penchant for art as a mechanism for problem-solving made me pretty good at it. I thrive off of creativity, relationship-building, and communication, and love to tell stories through different media. Since then, I’ve worked in North America, Europe, and Asia doing marketing, strategy, and design for everything from major banks to tech startups to multinationals.

things I do

While I also offer small business consulting services, this website is an online portfolio containing a collection of my favourite illustrations, graphic design, and websites. The majority of my work is done in Adobe Creative (chiefly Photoshop and Illustrator) using a Wacom Intuos tablet, but I also enjoy traditional media including watercolour, graphite, charcoal, and acrylic. My skills and experience include (but are not limited to): professional branding, social media, and marketing strategy. All of my art, design, and web skills are completely self-taught.

Some of my past clients include:
VAANDAL
GRAIN
RM Catalysts
Ideahack Creative
Sauder School of Business
City of Burnaby
Holliswealth, Global Wealth Management, Scotiabank
Royal Canadian Air Cadets
SHAD Valley UBC

Currently, I am residing in Vancouver. Keep up with my musings on my blog.

Want to know more? See my resume.

Interested in my services? Let’s chat.