Yijia has witnessed first-hand how diversity and a responsive landscape development has a significant impact on quality of life. Born in Chengdu City of the Sichuan Province in China, she traveled extensively with her parents and noticed how a vibrant landscape imbues cities with health and vitality. Since these childhood experiences, Yijia has been passionate about creating meaningful places for people to experience and interact with the living environment.

Yijia moved to Los Angeles to pursue her Master of Landscape Architecture at USC, and is based in the city as part of Hoerr Schaudt’s Los Angeles office. Yijia loves to take trips to the Santa Monica Beach and Getty Center. She’s also an avid photographer, painter, and musician – both singing and writing music on her synthesizer. Yijia is always pushing the boundaries of her knowledge and comfort zone, which is what has led her to a recent online study of the Theory of Relativity and Quantum Physics in her leisure time.