Mochizuki was forming the Asian American Ballet Project. “I honestly didn’t know there was not already a company that was Asian American,” she says, but at the same time, she hadn’t really viewed herself as Asian American. The Boston-based Asian American Ballet Project was founded in 2022, and bills itself as the first Asian American ballet company that allows its dancers to “work alongside artists of the same racial background.” She says she thinks of the term Asian American as less about race and more about how people view themselves. The Asian American Ballet Project, she says, has helped her learn about and contribute to dance performances of different countries and cultures.