Homeowner: Azuza Sakamoto

Occupation: CA licensed Nail Technician

Home Location: West Hollywood

For Azusa, seeing Barbie was love at first sight. She was immediately enamored with her clothes, the accessories, the colors, and especially the empowerment. Growing up in Japan, finding Barbie items was relatively difficult for Azusa when she was very young. Nevertheless, she would ask for Barbie items for every birthday and save her own money to add to her collection. After growing a little older, some of her friends asked why she still liked Barbie. She felt no shame in saying she simply liked the style and continued to collect into her teens, 20s and even in her 30s. When Azusa moved to America, her ability to acquire more pieces quickly -and for less money- allowed her collection to soon overtake her entire apartment. She started creating Youtube videos about new purchases, unboxings, and Barbie-related releases. While she makes a living as a nail artist in LA, she soon found that her social media presence had turned her into one of “The” Barbie Influencers. The social media element has given her greater access to exclusive releases, and special “influencer-only” related items.  Her space is not just a collection of toys and purchases. Things that aren’t offered, like her dressers, desk, and even her blinds, were all custom-made by Azusa, a proud DIY enthusiast. It’s no longer a collection, but a lived-in temple devoted to Barbie.

• Azusa’s day job is as a nail technician and she often features Barbie-themed nails on her Instagram and website. She also volunteers at children’s hospitals to do kids nails for free. Her dream job is to become a nail tech working in an official capacity for Barbie.

• The kitchen is outfitted with pink plates, Barbie glasses, even Barbie silverware. Azusa could host a lunch with full settings for all of her guests!

• While the dollar value of her collection isn’t important to Azusa some of the rarity is. Some of her pieces were given to only a small handful of influencers like her, and were not packaged for the general public, making them extremely rare.

• As a huge fan of DIY, Azusa’s custom Barbie desk space is just big enough for her to customize her next creation. Perhaps a couple helpful pair of hands could assist Azusa with her next pink project. 


• She is careful to point out that liking Barbie and wanting to *be* Barbie are two different things. She doesn’t see herself as a Barbie type or aspire to look like her, but rather the biggest fan of the look and the brand.

• She is unexpectedly handy as all her DIY accomplishments like creating custom pink Barbie blinds, a desk, and dressers are all done, 100% by her!

• “Azusa Barbie” has over 250,000 followers across all social platforms, most of which are on her Youtube channel. These numbers have garnered her the coveted “Blue Checkmark” on Instagram and official recognition from Mattel (makers of Barbie) as a valued influencer.