PROFFESIONAL
My British and SE Asian sides were always wrestling with each other, never quite settling or accepting each other. This paved the way to my curiosity and determination to always trying to find the full picture, all perspectives, different opinions. I understood from an early age that there are always at least two sides to a story.
I don’t take anything at face value and I back everything I do with data-driven decisions. This is my approach for life, work, and sports. I am methodical and obsessed with numbers, and always looking to see where I can optimise and be better.
I don’t believe in quick fixes or “accelerated growth”; I believe in long-term, sustainable solutions. I train and empower teams to be able to continue building far into the future. I love to connect talent and nurture passion into progress and success, however that looks.
For a long time, I shunned my Vietnamese heritage as I tried to integrate into British culture but over time, I felt like I was losing a big part of myself. Lately, I’ve been embracing my Vietnamese culture again and with that, I’ve found a lot of strength, learnings, and hope. East meets West.
I try to retain my culture in everything that I do and I encourage the brands I work with to do the same. With new cultures come new learnings and meanings, and for brands to thrive, they should be inclusive and respectful of the colourful world of diversity that we are lucky to have.
ATHLETE
it’s not just that my health is important but the ability to move, see what my body is capable of has always been a huge driver in my life. I’ve practiced: karate, trampolining, track and field (short and middle distances, throwing events, high jump), Muay Thai, kickboxing, swimming, cycling, running, bouldering, and now currently, CrossFit and weightlifting. I still jump at the chance to get involved with any team or major events that involve community.
I didn’t have a nice childhood so sport and music were my outlets. Here I could escape, be taken to alien worlds, and find new parts of myself. I’ve lived with with ADHD for all my life but one of the best things that have come from this condition is having experienced so many different types of sport and communities, and learning new ways of moving each time.
With each new sport comes new challenges, fears, discomfort, and risk. But that zone of discomfort and stress is where I grow.
My genetics favour strength training where my body adapts very quickly. But if I had to say I hated one sport, running would be it. My body just isn’t made for it. I’m slow and clumsy, and I sweat and get out of breath incredibly quickly. But this only means I try to run as much as I can because while my body grows with strength training, my mind grows more with running because I'm addressing my biggest weakness. And I think that’s so important to consider both - one cannot grow or function without the other.
COACH
That goes both for my professional and sporting life. Seeing that spark in someone’s eyes, that “Aha!” moment, where I just know that this is the ignition to the next stage of their journey, gives me an incredible feeling every single time.
Since 2021 I’ve been working as a CrossFit coach, first at AXT CrossFit and now currently at BLN Athletics in Berlin. I’m a Level 2 Certified coach, and also specialise as an Olympic Weightlifting coach where I have my Level 1 certification. I carry over a lot of learnings and techniques as a sports coach to my business coaching and try to apply many similar approaches.
There are days when I struggle with my own training. I often find myself in a rut, or I’m over-obsessing over a particular movement that I just can’t manage, or I’m not hitting the weights I wanted to hit. But when I put myself in front of the class, see how they turn up and fight, and see how a little encouragement from me makes them push much further than they ever thought possible, this gives me so much fire and inspiration when I go back to my own work.
My focus with my classes, clients, and athletes is good quality movement. I don’t care about the heaviest weight or the fastest times. Only that people move well and safely, and that they enjoy what they are doing so that they can continue doing it long into the future. I approach business coaching exactly the same. Quality over quantity for long-term success.
Sport has saved my life countless times and I want that sport can be that support for others as well.
