JCYC Alumni Spotlight

According to Emily Murase, who has worked in Japan, the White House, and currently for San Francisco Mayor Gavin Newsom, her involvement with the Japanese Community Youth Council (JCYC) from childhood has shaped who she is today. She started out at JCYC as a 5th grader and spent almost 10 years associated with the program, from summer day camper to counselor, and eventually camp director. It was during this time that then-Executive Director Jeff Mori encouraged her to live up to her full potential: "He pushed us to do all that kids can do, even if we didn't think we could. While a camp counselor, Emily was fortunate to have Camp Director Linda Ishii as her mentor: "Linda's community-oriented leadership made us feel very connected to the neighborhoods of Japantown and the Western Addition."

JCYC's Summer Day camp created a venue for Emily to interact with kids who she might not otherwise have come to know, including kids from diverse cultural backgrounds and income levels: "Fellow staffers Malik and Ameer told us about poor public housing conditions in Philadelphia, and shared with us their love of giant pickles." She has fond memories of her time there with fellow campers and counselors, including her younger sister Mimi and younger brother Geoffrey, and still keeps in touch with many of them. Jon Osaki, the current Executive Director of JCYC, credits Emily for hiring him for his first job, as a JCYC counselor, when she served as the Camp Director.

Emily attended Bryn Mawr College in Pennsylvania and took Japanese language classes at the nearby University of Pennsylvania. Her Japanese professor described Emily as "unusually outgoing and self-confident," which Emily attributes to her JCYC experiences. After graduating with a degree in Modern Japanese History, she worked briefly in San Francisco for the World Affairs Council of Northern California and went on to receive her Masters in International Relations from UC San Diego. She worked in Tokyo for AT&T Japan for 3 years before returning to the US to staff international economic issues at the Clinton White House. She also served in the International Bureau of the Federal Communications Commission before returning to graduate school to complete a PhD in Communication at Stanford University.

In 1994, under the mentorship of long-time Commissioner Caryl Ito as well as Jeff and Sandy Mori, Emily was appointed by then-San Francisco Mayor Willie L. Brown, Jr. to serve on the San Francisco Commission on the Status of Women. She served for 6 years before assuming her current position as Executive Director. The Commission fosters the advancement of the status of women and girls throughout San Francisco and funds a variety of services for domestic violence survivors, including a 24-hour crisis hotline and 3 women's shelters in San Francisco.

An active community member, Emily serves as President of the San Francisco Board of Education's Parent Advisory Council, a board member of the Parent Teacher Community Council of the Japanese Bilingual and Bicultural Program at the Rosa Parks Elementary School, and a board member of the Alumni Association for Lowell High School. Giving back to the community and spending time with kids to foster their development and education is something Emily says she learned from her JCYC experience. She acknowledges all the people in the local community who invested their time in her and influenced who she is today.

Emily resides in San Francisco with her husband, Neal Taniguchi, Chief Fiscal Officer of the San Francisco Superior Court, and their two children, Junko (8) and Izumi (5), both of whom attend, and love, the JCYC Tomodachi Summer Daycamp, just as their mother had over 30 years ago.

If you are a former participant of any JCYC program, we would love to hear from you! Please contact Sakura Suzuki at (415) 202-7910 or ssuzuki@jcyc.org.

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