Naoko Fleisher

Student

“Architecture is a marriage of science and art. It’s the perfect field to be creative and intellectual all at once.”

In Japanese, Naoko Fleisher’s first name means “honest child.” It’s a name that suits her well, especially when she talks about growing up in Osaka, Japan. “I had a very difficult childhood because I’m half Korean,” recalls Naoko. “And the Japanese can be very prejudiced against people, especially Koreans and Chinese.” So it was with a feeling of relief that Naoko arrived in the US ten years ago with her mother and began another life. And at SMC, she is determined to work against what she sees as the “patterns of separatism.”

“I did an article about my feelings in the Corsair,” says Naoko. “I wrote about how people from other countries should really take advantage of this school to make friends with other kinds of people. It’s very limiting to only hang around with people from your own culture. We all need to learn as much as we can about how other people live.”

Naoko is currently studying to become an architect, the profession she has dreamed of since childhood. “I began studying part time at SMC while I was doing a lot of interior design,” says Naoko. “And getting my degree in architecture will mean that people will have respect for what I do. I’d ultimately like to get my masters degree in design and go into designing film sets,” she continues. “I just feel it’s important to work at something that combines technical knowledge with free use of imagination. Because your imagination is really a muscle. And it can become fatigued,” concludes Naoko, “unless you give it a lot of exercise.”

Back