Conversations with Hannah Akamine

Today we’d like to introduce you to Hannah Akamine

Hi Hannah, can you start by introducing yourself? We’d love to learn more about how you got to where you are today?
Sports and fitness have always been a huge part of my life. I grew up playing basketball and soccer from elementary to high school! Team sports gave me an outlet to make new friends and stay active. Post-basketball game hangs at our local diner were the highlight of my busy school week. Debriefing the game, sweaty and hair disheveled with some of my closest girl friends remain some of my fondest and most formative memories. After I graduated college and moved off campus to my first apartment, I quickly began to crave the access to social connections and fun that my adolescence had effortlessly come with. Desperate for a bit of childlike fun and connection, my friend and I decided to host pickup sports get-togethers once a week. We invited some of our other girl friends to choose a sport and come out and play after work or class! The idea quickly gained popularity and our first soccer event brought out over 30 girls, most of which we had never met before. We realized that this desire for a sort of “adult recess” was a shared one with so many of our peers! Since the first event, we have gained a consistent group of loyal girlies who join us every other week for a new sport or activity. From dodgeball in the park to pilates classes in some of Orange County’s cutest studios, we’ve cultivated a community for women in their 20s to make new friends and get out and play.

Can you talk to us a bit about the challenges and lessons you’ve learned along the way. Looking back would you say it’s been easy or smooth in retrospect?
So far so smooth! Knock on wood. I have been lucky enough to have the most supportive, inclusive, compassionate, and just plain “down” girlies in my life. Their consistent and continuous support for me and for Play Date has made this passion project such a fun and truly healing one. Play Date has a lot of growing to do and I’d love to see it continue to blossom into something beautiful. The trickiest thing I have to deal with is spaces for us to play! There are few parks with overhead lighting that don’t cost a million dollars and packets of paperwork to use. As I get more experience in this industry and make more connections along the way, I’m hoping this part will get easier!

Thanks – so what else should our readers know about your work and what you’re currently focused on?
Play Date is a culmination of every single thing that I love. Creativity and community are some of my core values and I feel most fulfilled and alive when I get to practice them! I graduated from university with a degree in tech in emerging media (how to post on Instagram 101). I love every aspect of content creation and I get to do it all for Play Date. I run the Instagram account for Play Date and it’s honestly so fun for me. One thing about the girlies is that they love a photoshoot. I try to plan a styled shoot for me and my friends as often as I can! It’s a great way to create engagement on our feed and to have an excuse to take cute photos with my friends. I get to scratch that relentless creative itch with Play Date.

Ask any 20-something girl ever, “It’s near impossible to make friends in your 20s.” Outside of school and work where do people even meet people anymore? The beauty of Play Date is in the community we’ve cultivated. It’s a casual, low-steaks way to branch out and meet new people. Waiting for your turn to kick at our kickball event? Say hey to the girl who’s waiting too! Your mat is right next to a girl who happens to be wearing the same Lulu leggings as you at our pilates event? Perfect opener! There’s something so pure and heartwarming about making new friends while doing an activity you used to love as a kid. I feel like that really translates to the girls, and I’m so proud of that!

If you had to, what characteristic of yours would you give the most credit to?
I think authenticity is most important to our success. At the core of Play Date, it’s all about the girls. We call ourselves “girls girls” cause it’s catchy but more importantly, true. A girls girl supports other girls and works to uplift them. Women already have enough opposition on a day-to-day basis, another woman shouldn’t be one of those. One of the greatest lessons I’ve learned in my 20s is the importance of my female relationships. As a straight woman, men come and go but the female friendships I’ve been lucky enough to have are the truest and most fulfilling relationships I’ve ever had. I think our success so far is really based on that idea. Play Date is a space for connection, not competition, friendship, not performance, and fun, not drama. If we can stay authentically rooted in serving our community and fostering allyship, I think we’ll continue to succeed!

Contact Info:

• Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/itsa.playdate/

Image Credits
Hannah Akamine
(That’s me!)

Dee Hernandez @thesocialclub.xx
(pickle ball pic)