[3] Aoki's work includes the poetry collections Seasonal Velocities and Why Dust Shall Never Settle Upon This Soul, along with the novels He Mele a Hilo and Light From Uncommon Stars.

[12] She was honored by the California State Senate for her work with Trans/Giving, a Los Angeles performance series for trans and genderqueer individuals.

And if a book written by a queer trans Asian American can make you think of your own beaches, your own sunsets, or the dear departed grandmother you loved so much and even now find yourself speaking to, then what more powerful statement of our common humanity can there be?

[14] The following year, she appeared in Angelo Madsen Minax's Riot Acts: Flaunting Gender Deviance in Music Performance.

[17] Aoki toured with the Tranny Roadshow[18][19] and the Fully Functional Cabaret,[20] creating visible performance space for trans people across the country.

[22] Writing for Tor.com, Maya Gittelman described Light from Uncommon Stars as "often a joy to read ... also often painful to read", and being "written with profound catharsis, forgiveness when it’s due, and so, so much hope";[23] likewise, Alana Joli Abbott described the book as "an incredibly powerful story of hope and redemption" for Den of Geek.