San Jose native Michelle Vo, killed in Vegas shooting, was a ‘bubbly’ go-getter

Friends described San Jose native Michelle Vo as a ball of energy and role model. Friends described San Jose native Michelle Vo as a ball of energy and role model. Photo: Courtesy Of Diane Hawkins / / Courtesy Of Diane Hawkins Photo: Courtesy Of Diane Hawkins / / Courtesy Of Diane Hawkins Image 1 of / 42 Caption Close San Jose native Michelle Vo, killed in Vegas shooting, was a ‘bubbly’ go-getter 1 / 42 Back to Gallery

Not many people donate blood every two weeks, but Michelle Vo was not like most people. She was producer of the month at the insurance company where she worked, an avid rock climber and a golf enthusiast who liked to backpack across Europe.

In short, “a human charging station,” as a friend would say.

Vo, a San Jose native and UC Davis graduate, was among dozens killed at the Route 91 Harvest festival in Las Vegas, her family confirmed Tuesday. She was 32.

She was a fun, charismatic middle child with two older sisters and one younger brother, her sister Diane Hawkins said Tuesday.

“She creates a rapport instantly,” Hawkins, 40, said from her home in Washington state. “She’s very bubbly and happy. Just fun. She’s very kind. She donated blood religiously every two weeks. Everything she did she did 150 percent.”

Hawkins said Vo went to the country music festival with a girlfriend. But they parted ways before the last day of the three-day concert when Vo befriended a stranger, Kody Robertson, an Ohio resident who tried in vain to save her when gunfire broke out.

A gunman opened fire from the 32nd floor of the Mandalay Bay Resort and Casino during a Jason Aldean performance, killing Vo and 58 others and injuring more than 500.

Hawkins said her sister was as devoted to family as she was to her work. When she would visit Hawkins in Washington, she would often bond with her sister’s 8-year-old daughter, and her sister lamented that Vo will never be able to start a family of her own.

“Everyone that’s met her can’t say enough good things about her,” Hawkins said. “When something bad like this happens, you feel like someone just pulled a rug out.”

It was Vo’s second time at the country music festival, according to close friend Katie Tran, a colleague at the Pasadena branch of New York Life Insurance Company. When Vo had her headphones on at work, Tran said, it was always country music playing.

“She’s just a very strong, independent, fearless woman. A go-getter,” Tran said Tuesday. “She’ll do whatever needs to be done.”

Vo graduated in 2003 from Independence High School in San Jose, where she was student body vice president, school officials said. She was living in Los Angeles, where she recently joined the local chamber of commerce through her position at New York Life Insurance Company.

The LAX Coastal Chamber of Commerce said in a statement that her loss was met with “great sadness” by the organization’s staff and leadership, and it called the massacre a “heartbreaking tragedy.”

She was a role model for her colleagues at New York Life and seemed to receive an award for work performance just about every month, said Vivian Ha, a co-worker. This month, Vo was named top producer for her role as a financial adviser, Ha said.

“As a woman myself and as a young woman, she was an inspiration,” said Ha, 24. “She was the definition of a boss girl. She was a boss woman.”

Company officials released a statement Tuesday lamenting Vo’s death.

“Like all Americans, we are shocked and saddened at the terrible tragedy that has unfolded in Las Vegas. Our grief is deepened by knowing that a member of the New York Life family, Michelle Vo, an agent in our Greater Pasadena office, was among those killed,” the company said. “During this terrible time, our thoughts and prayers go out to her family and loved ones.”

Vo started at the company three years ago, back when Tran was her mentor and she was a Bay Area transplant in Southern California.

“We became close,” Tran said. “She said to me, ‘It’s like having a sister in L.A.’”

Over the years, Vo formed a community of friends in Los Angeles, who mourned her death Tuesday.

John-Michael Carlton, 35, wrote on Facebook that Vo was an “amazing human being” who perished “for no good reason.”

“She was always nice and high energy. Her work ethic was insane. She was always positive,” Carlton said in a phone interview before passing his phone to Christian Wolf, another of Vo’s friends.

Wolf, who knew Vo for four years, said she was a “ball of energy,” “super social” and “the life of the party.”

They met at a Los Angeles bar after he had just left a sword class and she had just left a rock climbing class, he said. They became instant friends.

“She was always going. She was always doing something. So inspiring, too,” said Wolf, 29. “She was like a human charging station, really.”

Jenna Lyons is a San Francisco Chronicle staff writer. Email: jlyons@sfchronicle.com

Twitter: @JennaJourno

Funeral arrangements

Vo’s family is still in the process of deciding a time and place for her funeral. Any friends looking for more information can call (509) 579-6371.