Terakubo Erena was born in Sapporo in 1992. She started playing the saxophone when she was nine. One year later, she joined jazz orchestra in her hometown. As a junior high school student, she got an opportunity to attend a summer program at Berklee college of music in Boston. The program was for talented young musicians from all over the world. After graduating from senior high school in 2011, she entered Berklee to study jazz.