Honored Among Los Angeles Business Journal’s 2022 Women of Influence
Cassy Aoyagi, president of FormLA® Landscaping, aims to transform every space she can into a vibrantly beautiful, optimally sustainable, place to connect with nature.
Aoyagi promotes an authentically LA landscape aesthetic, relying on use of native and climate-compatible plants, innovative permeable hardscapes, and smart water infrastructure. Her dedication to this distinctive approach resulted in the Los Angeles Business Journal honoring her among its 2022 Women of Influence: Construction, Architecture and Engineering.
Aoyagi is a board member of the thought-leading LA Chapter of the U.S. Green Building Council (USGBC-LA). She is one of the rare practitioners aggregated in both its Leadership in Energy and Environmental Design (LEED) and Sustainable SITEs programs. Aoyagi sits on the LA County Planning Department’s Significant Ecological Areas Technical Advisory Committee (SEA-TAC) and previously served as board president of the Theodore Payne Foundation for Wildflowers and Native Plants.
Perpetually curious, Aoyagi has developed specialized expertise in fire defensive landscaping. In 2017, after evacuating for both the La Tuna Fire and Creek Fires, Aoyagi looked to enhance the safety of her own home and that of her clients. She then worked with Theodore Payne Foundation and USGBC-LA to inspire and develop fire risk reduction programs.
Aoyagi’s work has been covered in InStyle, Sunset, Dwell and Form Magazines, as well as on HGTV and in the LA Times. She has contributed expertise to the Los Angeles Times’ SoCal Garden Clinic and Houzz, as well as the USGBC’s Green Home Guide. FormLA Landscaping and Aoyagi’s work is frequently featured on area garden tours.
In 2018, Aoyagi was recognized as a Woman in Business Honoree for the 25th Assembly District, and she previously received the small business of the year award for the district. The Los Angeles Business Council has also recognized her for her work educating the public about water conservation, and Los Angeles Business Journal named FormLA Landscaping among LA’s most influential family owned businesses.
Aoyagi earned her bachelors in environmental horticulture at California Polytechnic, San Luis Obispo and co-founded FormLA Landscaping with her husband and FormLA co-founder Kirk Aoyagi in 1997.
When her mind isn’t adding green space to every square inch of Los Angeles, Aoyagi is likely cooking for her family, delighting in the antics of her son and Portuguese Water Dogs, (Salvia) Dara and Poppy, or enjoying the trails of Tujunga.
Get to Know Cassy Aoyagi:
Cassy leads us through the fire defensive features of a treeful property, nestled into a Tujunga hillside:
Tour a beautiful fire defensive Mandeville Canyon property with Cassy:
Aoyagi moderates a discussion among experts from the fields of wildland fire management and education, home-hardening, defensive landscaping, and fire-safe community organizing: