Spotlight on Diversity November 2025
Committed to Learn, Adapting to Lead
Yuko Taniguchi
Lighting Designer, Focus Lighting
When Yuko Taniguchi joined Focus Lighting in early 2025, she felt she had finally found a place where her background and passions clicked. “I’m still pretty new,” she said. “But I’ve always admired Focus’s projects. Their approach, their designs… They're just amazing. I reached out because I wanted to be in a space where I can explore creatively and gain more skills.”
At Focus, she has joined the studio of Andrew Stewart and Jenny Ruter, working under principal Juan Pablo Lira, largely on hospitality projects. She relishes being in the Harlem office each day. “And the other wonderful thing about living here is that some of my close friends from Tokyo also live nearby. It makes me feel less homesick.”
Taniguchi observed that many of her Focus colleagues came to architecture from theater, just as she did. “We all have a similar background and mindset on how compositions work and how storytelling works,” she said. “It’s very admirable, and I keep learning more and more from them.”
A broad worldview
Taniguchi was born in Tokyo and spent her early childhood in Malaysia, where her father worked at a gasket factory. She later moved with just her mother and sister to Singapore for school, before returning to Japan to finish high school.
“The elementary school that I went to in Malaysia was a small, local school, and then my parents sent us to an international school in Singapore. That was a big change – how we were taught, the friends we had. It all became a little more diverse, more Westernized.” At home, she and her sister spoke Japanese with their parents but often used Mandarin with each other. She sees those years as formative. “Living in that environment helped us learn to adapt, and gain language skills very quickly,” she said.
Her mother’s influence looms large. A believer in study abroad, she had spent a few college years in Maine and positioned her daughters to do the same. “She saw the value of having a more worldwide view,” Taniguchi said. “From a very young age, she raised us to prepare to study abroad. That’s a huge reason why I’m here today.”
Mentorship: An investment in the future
In high school, Taniguchi joined the backstage crew for school theater productions. “I developed a passion for lighting design for the stage,” she recalled. “By senior year I knew that I wanted to pursue it.” That path led her to the University of North Carolina School of the Arts (UNCSA). “The reason why I chose the school in North Carolina was mostly because of cost,” she said with a laugh. “But I’m so glad I made the decision. I enjoyed my time there so much.”
At UNCSA she found a pivotal mentor in Norman Coates (now retired). “There was something that he saw in me. He helped me find my voice and built my confidence tremendously,” she said. “I was one of the very few Asians in my program, and it took a while to feel like I fit in. Norman encouraged me to step out of my comfort zone and share what I think.”
Clifton Taylor, Coates’s successor, encouraged Taniguchi to enter the Pat MacKay Diversity In Design scholarship program for outstanding theater design students, which she won in 2020. He also connected her to her first internship. “That was huge! It was my first time working in the States, and it was one of my dreams,” she said. “It meant a lot to have someone encourage me like that here, where I am so far from family.”
Embracing ambiguity
Taniguchi explained that one of her biggest adjustments was learning to contribute her ideas in the American culture, where collaboration is more the norm. In the Asian classrooms she grew up in, rules were black and white, and students were expected to find the single correct answer.
“People ask a lot more questions here. And I think people are a lot more outspoken,” she said. “In elementary school, there was always a right or wrong. And I was taught that, in school, there is no space to share your opinion in most classes. So because I started with that kind of thinking, it’s still ingrained in me a bit. It’s hard to let that go.” She has learned that her US colleagues welcome her perspective when the team is processing ideas out loud.
Graduating in 2021 during the COVID-19 pandemic, Taniguchi realized that freelancing for theater wasn’t viable – especially without a visa. A Revit class she had taken senior year sparked an interest in architecture, and she soon landed that internship at Hartranft Lighting Studios. “I was there for about three and a half years,” she said. “Andrea [Hartranft] was so supportive, and she did everything she could to help me through the visa process.”
Hartranft became a key mentor in architectural lighting. “She took a chance on me. The H1B visa is a lottery system, and neither of us had control over it. But she was there every step of the way.”
When Taniguchi started to look for her next challenge, she reached out to Focus Lighting. “Norman told me I should just go for it,” she recalled. “That push was what I needed.”
Integrity and opportunity
Today, she continues to absorb all she can from her colleagues at Focus. “People say I work too much,” she said, smiling. “But I want to take every opportunity to learn, because my time here is not guaranteed. I love what I do, and I love learning even more.”
Perhaps her background brings something distinctive to the sometimes sharp-elbowed New York design world. “A big part of our culture is putting others first,” she explained. “I try to put myself in others’ shoes and always be respectful and humble. But if I’m too polite or humble, it can make me look like I don’t know much. Treating people with kindness and respect, with openness that people are human and make mistakes – that’s important to me.”
She also appreciates the generosity of those in the lighting community who have welcomed her. “Even speaking with you today, that came through Megan [Carroll], and Megan I met through Shoshana [Segal] when I was at Hartraft. Shoshanna is very big on mentorship.” She added, “I feel so lucky to continue surrounding myself with people like her… so many kind people to look up to.”
“Right now I’m learning and absorbing as much as I can. My dream is to make the most of the opportunity – to give back to my family, and also to continue the kind of mentorship that’s helped me. Someday I want to share what I love with the next generation.”
This sense of responsibility is deepened by her family’s sacrifices. The women of the family moved several hours away from her father to attend that international school in Singapore. Her voice caught as she described how when her younger sister’s turn to study abroad came, the funds were not available. “That was really hard for her. I feel I have a responsibility to do my best here,” she said.
