Yakusan began practicing at the NYZC in 2016 shortly after her father died, also a time when she was struggling deeply with her identity as a contemporary artist. Zen provided a path through that suffering. In 2018 she became a formal student of Koshin Sensei and received jukai that same year. She served as Foundations mentor for four years, and completed five years of NYZC chaplaincy training, and is currently supporting the Alum Program. As a chaplain, she works primarily with people impacted by incarceration. She is the co-founder of Inside-Outside Study Group (I-O) and Zen in Prisons (ZIP) and currently guides the Buddhist Group at a maximum-security prison for women in New Jersey. She holds a BA from Sarah Lawrence College and an MA in Studio Art from NYU and is now training in the License Qualifying Program at Gestalt Associates for Psychotherapy. She lives in Harlem and the Catskills with her loving family, animals, books, dance and music.