Akari Hayami was scouted near her graduation from elementary school and was signed to the agencyStardust Promotion. On November 23, 2008, together with Yukina Kashiwa and Ayaka Sasaki she was added to her agency's girl group Momoiro Clover. The group existed since 2008 and its name signified that they were "innocent girls who wanted to spread happiness". At the time, Momoiro Clover performed on the walkways in Yoyogi Park in Shibuya, Tokyo, but with the release of its first indie single in summer of the next year the group quickly rose to fame. On January 16, 2011, at a launch event for the single "Mirai Bowl", set for release on March 9, Akari announced that she would leave Momoiro Clover in April. The announcement came sudden to the 500 fans that were present. As for Momoiro Clover leader Kanako Momota, she only learned about it 3 days prior. Akari explained to the fans: "Ever since I was little, my personality wasn't suited to being an idol. There were times when I was fed up of being in Momoclo." The date of Akari's withdrawal from the group had been already determined, her last concert was to be held on April 10 at Nakano Sun Plaza. As Akari recalled later, one year after leaving Momoiro Clover, she entered entertainment industry with the aim to be an actress and a model. In her days in the group, she struggled with being known as an idol. Rather than "idol Akarin" from Momoiro Clover, she wanted to be "actress and model Akari Hayami". At her final concert with Momoclo, on April 10, it was announced that the group without Akari would be known under a new name, Momoiro Clover Z. Towards the end of the concert, other members surprised Akari performing a new song called "Akarin e Okuru Uta" for her. The song was subsequently released as a limited issue CD single. After leaving the group, Akari Hayami was mainly active as a fashion magazine model. She also starred in the Universal Music Japan cheerleading movie Cheerfu11y, which came out on October 22, 2011. In September, after the movie announcement came the news that she would be in a new TV Tokyositcom series entitled Urero Mikakunin Shōjo that would start airing on October 7, 2011. The series also features her former Momoiro Clover bandmates. In November 2012, Momoiro Clover Z was invited to the Kohaku Uta Gassen, an annual New Year's Eve music show on NHK. To qualify for Kohaku had been the girls' dream and common goal as a group also when Akari was in Momoiro Clover. She congratulated her former bandmates in her blog and expressed the desire to appear at Kohaku together with them. In homage to her wish, Momoiro Clover Z performed the song Ikuze! Kaitō Shōjo in Kohaku with the version that included her name on it. In May 2014, Akari Hayami appeared in her first leading role in a feature film called My Pretend Girlfriend.
