In Tokyo, where she was born and raised, Naomi's fascination with Western movies and astronomy inspired her to go to the University of Arizona. In Arizona she learned to fly hang gliders, and that has been her favorite way to explore the outdoors for the past 17 years. Marriage to a fellow hang glider pilot brought her to Ellensburg, where she became fascinated with the diversity of landscapes and nature in the Northwest, and where she earned her Bachelor of Fine Arts degree, with an emphasis in oil painting, at Central Washington University.

Naomi is a member of Oil Painters of America and Women Painters of Washington. In 2009 she was juried into the OPA Western regional show at Howard/Mandville Gallery in Kirkland, and her paintings are displayed at the Women Painters of Washington gallery in Seattle.