Meet Shoko Wolfson | Pianist and Yogi

We had the good fortune of connecting with Shoko Wolfson and we’ve shared our conversation below.

Hi Shoko, have there been any changes in how you think about work-life balance?
Until 5 years ago, I was working in Japan. My routine was to work for 30 days straight, then I would give myself a solo vacation to a foreign country for a week. I read a lot of business books, self help, and novels to try to become a better and more interesting person.

I enjoyed being a classical piano accompanist, piano teacher, yoga instructor, as well as managing and training yoga teachers, managing and opening new studios, coaching fashion models, and consulting for a few companies.

I loved work, I loved creating new things, and I loved keeping myself busy.

When I was 34, I decided to start a new career in Indonesia. But right before I signed a contract with a company in Jakarta, I met my future husband. At that point, I followed my intuition and I proposed to him.

In that moment, I wasn’t so afraid of changing my whole life. I was very excited about the adventures we would have and I didn’t think about work or my career in the future.

When our daughter was 7 months old, the pandemic started. It gave me an opportunity to think deeply about my life. During the pandemic, I had to cancel my flights to go to workshops I was planning on two occasions. I felt disappointed, but I’ve come to think that even though I wasn’t able to do it, someone else could do it.

Also I started to think that only I can be my daughter’s mother. I started to think that my mission was to do everything I could to make her happy. I believe that when a person finds their passion and mission, they become happy and strong.

At that time, my passion and mission clearly changed from what I had when I was single. When I was single, I focused on doing exciting work and becoming more attractive. Or I went where I wanted to go and met inspiring people. My mission and passion was to do something that would be appreciated by as many people as possible.

Since the pandemic, it dawned on me that building my daughter’s happiness and the happiness of my family has become my passion and mission. Then little by little l have been figuring out what I can do for those missions and passions.

I am still training to accomplish them but I try to do the simple things, like supporting my husband’s work or study environment; cooking hearty, healthy meals for our family which benefits our mental and physical health; being nice to each other (which is very hard especially when you are tired and stressed); no more social media—my husband and I decide to close our Facebook and Instagram accounts. It was the only way to communicate with my university friends and some acquaintances, but we thought it would be better to focus on the present.

I’ve learned to ask for help to my husband’s family members and friends. Since all of my family and old friends are in Japan, I’ve been asking my father-in-law for a lot of help. He is always with my daughters and he is a key person in our happy family life. I can’t express how grateful we are to him. He has brought us joy as well as his relationships with his friends have made our lives more enjoyable, too. I should be more thankful for everything and everyone around us.

I’m currently working a job that pays me less and doesn’t require as much time as when I was single. Even though I don’t have the career that I used to, I still have passion and a mission. And now I have a teammate, my husband. We share a purpose and will be happy if we continue to communicate, collaborate, and steer the ship in the right direction.

Let’s talk shop? Tell us more about your career, what can you share with our community?
I went to a music high school and spent that time studying classical music, piano and composition. Until I entered that high school, I thought I was pretty good at music, but shortly after I got in, I learned that I was just average. There were people who were so much better than me, even like music geniuses. As a child, I was always able to hear every note that orchestras played. I could play any song immediately after hearing it, but as far as my performances or knowledge of music theory, I was not a strong student at all.

At age 16, I felt like I was facing a setback in my music studies. But I loved classical music so I decided to continue studying it at the same time I started to do other things, too. At that time, I was scouted by a modeling agent while walking around town. When I was younger, I was super shy, but when I started working as a model, I started to like being in front of people. It encouraged me to go university in the United States after I graduated high school.

At university, my major was music but I had many other memorable experiences that affected my life. Setbacks in music led to other good experiences. After I finished my bachelor’s degree, I went back to Japan. Soon after going back, I was nominated as a semi finalist in Miss Universe Japan. Even though I didn’t win first prize, it opened some career opportunities.

After that, I opened my piano studio, was a piano accompanist, became a yoga teacher, teacher trainer, studio director, a model, and trained models and actors in big production company. I consulted with health and beauty companies. I built those careers up, little by little, over 10 years.

After I became a mom, I pretty much stopped those careers. My husband and I moved to the United States almost three years ago when my daughters were 1 year old and 1 month, along with only two suitcases.

Now, I teach piano and yoga at my house and I play the piano as a volunteer at a museum as well as for charity concerts.

I love teaching piano. Of course my students should learn something from me but I want make big impact on young people. We have recitals twice a year at my house. They play the songs they like.

I arrange and write the music that students want to play according to their level. Usually they try hard and enjoy playing the songs. After the recital, we have a potluck party in our backyard with all students, their family members, friends and even my neighbors! We always have guest musicians, too. When my 6 year old boy student said, “I love recitals! I can’t wait!” I felt very happy about it.

I didn’t enjoy my childhood recitals, which were too serious, no one talked or smiled.

Musical occasions should be fun! Why not?

I started making healing songs this year and they will be published soon. Also, I am planning to start a Japanese choir for young people this summer, too! I’m grateful to still be able to do what I love and try new things.

Any places to eat or things to do that you can share with our readers? If they have a friend visiting town, what are some spots they could take them to?
The combination of culture and nature is why I love Denver. I would take them to Roxborough Park, which is my daughters’ favorite place. I feel spiritual when I enter the gate there. My older daughter gets very excited and smiles more, too. We are big picnic people so we usually bring our homemade food there and eat. In summer, we have dinner picnics there which is so special.

I’d like to take my musical friends to Boettcher Concert Hall for the Colorado Symphony, then walk to the Denver Art Museum when the weather is nice. Personally, I love to cook for guests at our home but if we wanted to take my best friends to a restaurant, I would take them to a kid friendly restaurant since they have young kids. I’d like to take them to Casa Bonita.

Shoutout is all about shouting out others who you feel deserve additional recognition and exposure. Who would you like to shoutout?
Thankfully, my parents let me do

everything I wanted to do and supported me both financially and emotionally.

My parents showered me with love, respected me as a person, and gave me the freedom and support to pursue my dreams. Being loved made my personality full of confidence (for better or worse, I have so much baseless confidence in many ways).

Thanks to a yoga studio, I started to take classes. Eventually I became a studio director there. And then eventually I met my husband there. He was my yoga student!

And of course, as huge thanks to my dearest husband. He is my love, my best friend, and my mentor. We are growing together through our family and raising children. Of course, we argue and fight sometimes, but he always reminds me that we are a team, that we are in the same boat and our destination is our mutual happiness.

Website: pianoyogi.com