Licensing

Vicky Kumi Murakami-Tsuda

I was named after a soap opera character, Victoria from “One Life to Live.”  The character was on for a long time and was at some point mayor, and was well liked, but also had multiple personality disorder.  Her nickname was “Viki”. Somehow, they named me “Vicky,” instead of “Victoria” and spelled with a “y”. 

My mom said that my aunt picked my middle name, but when I asked my aunt once, she said she couldn’t remember how she came up with “Kumi.” 久美

When I got married, I decided to hyphenate my name instead of taking “Tsuda” because I wanted to keep my same initials, because I had been using “VKM” for a long time for my artwork and business.

Growing up, in school and with people calling on the phone, non Japanese/JA  people would have a hard time knowing how to pronounce “Murakami,” mostly with how to pronounce the “i” at the end.  When I married, I realized that people didn’t know how to pronounce the “Tsu” in “Tsuda,” because there’s  no  “tsu” sound in English.  They tend to say “Tu- Su-Da”.

Read her story that she developed during the workshop in Gardena, CA on August 23 >>