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Growing up supermodel1/24/2024 ![]() ![]() ![]() She remembers pulling up her application in class to showcase that she had marked “Asian” alongside “Black” under ethnicity. Not only was she younger than her classmates and attending school in the middle of a pandemic that forced the campus to adjust to a remote model, but Harvard was in the midst of a high-profile Supreme Court case on affirmative action.Īoki, who is of Japanese, Korean, and African American heritage, is very proud of all parts of her background. As a freshman, Aoki's diligence landed her her first published work in Classical Inquiries, Harvard’s rapid-publication project in the Center for Hellenic Studies: a piece of speculative fiction framed around the fabled story of Agammemnon at the Port of Aulis, a Greek king who led the army into the Trojan war.Ĭollege was a unique experience for Aoki. Bucking tradition, she entered the classics discipline with a nominal background in Latin and none in ancient Greek, building her Greek linguistic skills as a research assistant under her mentor. In college, Aoki studied political science (known as government at Harvard) and classics, investigating everything from ancient Greek mythology to political systems and global revolutions. “Someone said to me in my dorm when we were moving in - we were just chatting - ‘I think someone in our year is, like, 16,’” she recalls, laughing. Despite her youth, Aoki was able to integrate seamlessly. Harvard turned out to be the perfect fit. In collaboration with her mother, she planned her college application process, indeed targeting Harvard, among other top programs in the country that were amenable to early high school graduates. Her current PC setup is that of a seasoned gamer who used to be an eager participant in a competitive League of Legends team: massive wraparound screen, ergonomic keyboard, and headphones.Īoki graduated high school at 16 because she started schooling early, she says. In addition to volleyball, tae kwon do, and ballet, Aoki also got into gaming and microcomputers. She went to boarding school alongside Ming in Switzerland, where she claims her sister was immensely popular in comparison to her more bookish persona, prone to binging episodes of Crash Course History on YouTube. Her mother had put her through a robust schooling curriculum since she was around two years old, and that became a safe haven. The early brush with the limelight led to her grounding herself in academics. Modeling now seems like a natural fit, but Aoki's current trajectory took her family by surprise. Now, whenever I come and go, I take pictures in the drawers, out of the drawers, in the shower.” She intends to look for a place of her own after fashion month. “The last time, she made me pay her cleaning fees…. Of course, sharing space with a sibling has led to the occasional squabble over boundaries. For now, she is crashing at Ming’s NYC apartment, preparing to book gigs for her first international fashion month - New York, London, Milan, and Paris - in September. She’s no longer shuttling on trains between Cambridge and New York to model. In May, Aoki graduated from Harvard at just 20 years old. Nothing about her is low-energy, and we don’t remain seated for long: After we finish our respective bites, we take our talk on the road, going for a “hot girl walk” down Hudson Street, eagerly chatting about the full gamut of young womanhood. Aoki is a bundle of nerves - repeatedly fidgeting with her hair, switching from a ponytail to a bun - but she's also vivacious and an inquisitive conversationalist, thinking faster than she can talk. We sit down for lunch at a West Village cafe. ![]()
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