Tori Nishinaka-Leon

She was born on October 19, 1989 to Bernie and Vicky Leon. Her brother, Bernard, currently an LAPD officer, was born two years later. Tori comes from a large extended family with two grandmothers, seventeen aunts and uncles, and eighteen cousins.

Tori attended Franklin High School and became the captain of the Golf Team. She attended Occidental College, where she received a full-ride academic scholarship. While attending Oxy, she played golf for the men’s team then formed the women’s team. She is currently inducted into the Athletic Hall of Fame for her tournament record and because she paved the way to women succeeding her as she was the first female golfer to play for the college. She is currently a third-year optometry student at Western University of Health Sciences in Pomona. Tori has always had a passion for giving back to the community, which has carried over to her optometry career. She has traveled internationally as well as throughout Los Angeles providing free eye examinations and glasses in coordination with Care Harbor and Lion’s Club Friends in Sight. These organizations ensure that not a single person is turned away. Their ocular health is fully evaluated and if they need glasses, they will get them at no cost. She still currently works at the optometry practice of Dr. Matthew Matsuzaki on weekends in Pasadena. In her final year of schooling, she is looking forward to her clinic rotation schedule that is taking her all across the United States.