ABOUT US (ME)

STEM education + Art

 My name is Aoki, a founder of STEAM for Teens.  I am a Redmond, WA local one-person business owner running this STEAM education provider. My dream is to make this world a happy place filled with smiles.

 I have a long history in the gaming industry from early 1987. I started to work for SEGA in Japan making arcade games.  Then I had an opportunity to come to the US and joined the Sonic team.  Leading the talented art team to create a new character Knuckles is one of the unforgettable experiences in my life.  In summer 2001, I decided to move on to the next journey to make handheld games in Nintendo.  Making games that kids can bring outside to have fun together was something I always wanted to make.  Nintendo was the world-leading company making platforms the kids can play outside.  "Gameboy" was the king of the platform, and Nintendo was making a new platform when I joined. It was "Gameboy Advanced". I was assigned to be the art director on Mario vs. DonkeyKong series making games for Gameboy Advances (later on other platforms). It was a challenging task dealing with two big IPs of Nintendo, Mario, and DonkeyKong.  I learned so much about how I take care of the characters in Nintendo.

 Now I am here to pass my knowledge to the next generation. I hope more creation can come out to make the world an even more fun place to live! I always toward making happy games and I want all the people to do the same.