We won’t blame you if you have a crush on Kiyomi McCloskey, the lead of Hunter Valentine that first caught our attention when she first appeared in The L Word.
But more than just a rockstar, she’s also been spotted in other mediums like podcasts, doing solo acoustic acts while the band is on hiatus, emceeing/ hosting, and even going into fashion.
Here are five things about this dark angel of the lesbian community.
Kiyomi McCloskey Fact# 1
If her name isn’t a giveaway, Kiyomi is actually one-quarter Japanese.
In an interview with Huffington Post, she also considers Tokyo, Japan as her favorite place to play “because of the people, the food. It’s so impressive, and beautiful.”
“They are very respectful, passionate people. You can tell by the way they do the work; there’s so much care and attention,” she said.
Kiyomi McCloskey Fact# 2
Kiyomi also writes her own songs, so when she was doing her second album for her band, Lessons from the Late Night in 2010, she wrote the hard-rocking tune “Revenge” together with veteran songwriter Holly Knight.
Who is Knight? A Songwriters Hall of Famer inductee, her songwriting credits include Pat Benatar’s “Love is a Battlefield,” “The Warrior” by Scandal (featuring Patty Smyth), and Heart’s “Never.”
“I loved working with Holly. She is a true artist. I hope we get to write together again in the future,” she told Guitar Girl Magazine.
Kiyomi McCloskey Fact# 3
Kiyomi doesn’t care about what people think of her fashion sense, which explains why she always cuts a dashing figure in our imagination.
Speaking with Dapper Q, she said: “I like to be able to play with different looks and sexualities in fashion on a daily basis in whatever way that I want.”
“I’m not afraid to play with my masculine side of my feminine side,” she said, citing David Bowie, Mick Jagger, k.d. lang, and Annie Lennox playing on their respective feminine or masculine sides.
Kiyomi McCloskey Fact# 4
Know how Kiyomi first came out? At 16, she was photographed kissing her date at a Dyke March during Toronto Pride and this was displayed on the front page of the Toronto Star.
“And it was my face kissing the girl who I was dating on the front cover and it said, “A quiet moment kicks off Pride. Two young lesbians embrace,” and there’s a pride flag hanging in the background,” Kiyomi related to AfterEllen.
“And that’s how I came out to my parents. Actually that’s how I came out to everyone,” she shared.
Kiyomi McCloskey Fact# 5
While we’d like to watch Kiyomi rocking the night away, it was a surprise to learn that she also has a day job as a licensed real estate professional for Keller Williams New York City.
Yes, you heard us right: she’s just like you and me!
To wrap this up, here’s Kiyomi with her band Hunter Valentine singing “The Pulse”:
