Taylor Yasui

ROOTS IN HAWAII: A FOUNDATION OF CULTURE AND VALUES

Born and raised in Honolulu, Hawai‘i, Yasui attended Kamehameha Schools Kapālama, a private institution founded by Princess Bernice Pauahi Bishop to educate Native Hawaiian youth. This heritage-infused education instilled in him core Hawaiian values that continue to shape his grounded approach to both life and business. Princess Bernice Pauahi Bishop (1831–1884), the great-granddaughter of King Kamehameha I, was the last royal descendant of the Kamehameha dynasty. A highly educated and visionary aliʻi (chiefess), she foresaw the socioeconomic challenges facing Native Hawaiians during the 19th century due to colonization, disease, and cultural displacement. In her will, she dedicated her vast land holdings—over 375,000 acres—to create Kamehameha Schools, with the goal of providing high-quality education to Hawaiian children. Today, her legacy lives on through the Bishop Estate (now Kamehameha Schools), one of the largest private charitable trusts in the U.S., which reinvests its revenues into educational and cultural programs. 

Yasui’s connection to Hawaiian culture also ties closely to real estate, as the Bishop Estate remains one of the largest landowners in Hawai‘i—channeling revenue back into Native Hawaiian education, including the school he attended. “Real estate has always been a part of my life,” he reflects. 

A PASSION FOR MUSIC: FROM FAMILY LEGACY TO MEANINGFUL MOMENTS

Though Yasui’s formal music training began at age 12 under the guidance of Lifen Anthony, music was quietly embedded in his family history. His grandfather’s brother, Byron K. Yasui, is a distinguished American musician, composer, educator, and performer based in Hawai‘i. While many musically inclined children start lessons as early as age three, Yasui’s path to music was more organic. “My family encouraged me, but not in an aggressive way,” he shares. There was no pressure—just support and space to discover it on his own terms. A turning point came when his grandmother, Yukiye Yogi, also known as Maude, gifted him his first cello. “She wasn’t musical, but she really enjoyed it,” he recalls with a smile. That simple gift sparked a deep connection with the instrument, one that would grow into a lifelong passion. 

Two years ago, when Maude entered hospice care, Yasui chose to be by her side almost daily. “There was no way I couldn’t be there,” he says. He played for her often during those final days. “It was a really meaningful way to contribute—in the way that I could—in this last chapter of her life.” During high school, Yasui had the opportunity to spend four to six consecutive weeks in Japan each summer for three years, receiving intensive music training. His teacher there was the brother of his cello teacher in Hawai‘i, and although the instructor was Chinese, he was based in Japan and deeply respected in the region. “It was very intense,” Yasui recalls. “We practiced repertoire of music individually and as an ensemble.” A unique part of that training focused on musical inflections and timing—nuances that help make the sound feel more fluid and natural. These subtle techniques, often overlooked in early training, greatly expanded Yasui’s musical expressiveness. 

By 2009, his dedication to the cello earned him a soloist spot with the Honolulu Symphony after winning its youth concerto competition. He further honed his craft at prestigious summer programs like Meadowmount School of Music, Chautauqua Institution, and the Rome Chamber Music Festival. Yasui went on to earn a B.A. in Cello Performance from the highly selective Robert McDuffie Center for Strings at Mercer University, which admits only six cellists per year. “I am one of the six,” he proudly notes. He followed that with an M.A. in Music Business from New York University, studying under renowned cellists Julie Albers and Hans Jørgen Jensen. His artistic sensibilities were further sharpened through work at Opus 3 Artists, a premier artist management firm representing legends like Yo-Yo Ma and Patti LuPone. 

BALANCING MULTIPLE HATS: ENTREPRENEUR, REALTOR, AND MUSICIAN

Yasui’s entrepreneurial spirit emerged early. As a teenager, he and his friends played string quartets on the streets of Waikīkī, earning around $80 an hour and booking wedding gigs—an early education in marketing, performance, and client service. Today, he channels that same initiative into three interconnected ventures: a real estate sales and rentals business affiliated with Compass, a property management firm he co-owns called Strata Property Management LLC, and a musician contracting service. Each business reflects a different side of his expertise and passion, and he manages to balance them with careful attention and creative flexibility. 

“Wearing a bunch of hats and constantly shifting gears,” he explains, “One minute I’m marketing to find new clients, the next I’m working with a seller to plan the best strategy to sell their house. Sometimes it’s not just about price, but timing or unique situations—like a death in the family or a divorce. You have to be empathetic.” 

His real estate practice focuses primarily on residential properties in Manhattan, with additional work in Brooklyn, Queens, and the Bronx. “I don’t do Staten Island,” he quips, “but usually whatever’s close to Manhattan.” On the property management side, he and his team cater to landlords—many of them overseas or based in Asia—who rely on Yasui for hands-on tenant relations and building maintenance. 

HARMONIZING MUSIC AND REAL ESTATE IN NEW YORK

Yasui continues to balance his real estate business with his musical identity. 

He performs regularly at weddings and corporate events and collaborates with Hawaiian artists like Keali'i Reichel and Ho'okena, keeping strong ties to both his craft and his cultural roots. “The cello is like a different voice—it’s my voice,” Yasui explains. “I’m not a great singer, but through the instrument, I communicate feelings and ideas that words sometimes can’t express.” To him, music is not just art—it’s service, memory, and emotional connection. His experience playing for Maud during her final days reinforced that music could be a quiet act of care, not just performance. 

His business partnership reflects this same harmony. “I’m detail-oriented and good at systems; my business partner sees the  big-picture and he is patient with clients. Together, we’re yin and yang.” 

BEYOND CAREER: A LIFE OF COMMUNITY, LIGHT, AND INTENTION 

Yasui lives in Hell’s Kitchen with his husband. Outside of work, he enjoys cooking, fitness, and travel—from Brooklyn to Bangkok—and he remains actively involved with Native Hawaiian and LGBTQIA+ organizations. His approach to life blends creativity, compassion, and cultural responsibility, but it also incorporates a deeper internal language—one that he has come to define in a single, powerful word: incandescent. 

DEFINING INCANDESCENT

To Yasui, incandescent means something radiating from within. “We often associate it with temperature—emitting light—but for me, it’s also about energy,” he explains. “It’s the energy you’re getting from others or bringing from yourself that lights up how you go about your work.” He reflects on this concept during weekly check-ins with his mother, who still lives in Hawai‘i. “When she asks how I’m doing from one to ten, I usually say 8.5 or higher—even if I’m having a hard day or feeling low on energy. That word helped me understand the grace I need to give myself on those days.” 

But incandescence, to Yasui, is not just personal—it’s collective. “In a concert, one light bulb can’t light up the whole stage. It takes many. And if one dims, others brighten. We lift each other.” Rooted, Whole, and Moving with a Purpose Taylor Yasui reflects the quiet strength and steady presence of the moli bird—a powerful symbol in Hawaiian culture. Known for traveling vast distances with grace and returning home with precision, the moli mirrors Yasui’s ability to move between different worlds with focus and care. He’s not just a cellist or a real estate agent—he’s a whole, not a sum of parts. Whether balancing music and business or blending heritage with ambition, he approaches each role with clarity and purpose. It’s not volume that defines him, but the weight of presence and the depth of follow-through.