Most good stories start when they are not meant to be told. Life coaching is one of those stories to me.

I didn’t think I would become a life coach. I didn’t think that I had lived my life enough to coach others.

I WAS BORN in China, on a small island in the Southeastern Fujian Province beside the Taiwan Strait. It was a simple, unaffected little island, where everyone played the piano and loved spending time chilling over tea. Time passed more slowly there than it did in the rest of the world. At dusk, when mothers of different households were busy preparing dinner in the kitchen, every lane and street was filled with the symphony of children practicing the piano. To me, my hometown is the smell of slow-cooked short rib soup, and the euphonious chaos of those children’s piano-practicing. It was a heavenly place in my heart, and it represents the most pristine essence of where I came from.

My life began on that small island, but it expanded beyond the island ever faster as I got older.

I moved to the city closest to the island, and then to a much bigger city in another province. I later flew across the Pacific Ocean to California for college, and since then, my footprint has expanded to over 39 countries and regions in the world and is still counting. There seems to be a theme of exploration in my life. A story of seeking. An attempt to relate to and connect with the world in every possible way.

I ASK myself what I have been seeking through all the miles that I’ve traveled, and what I have wanted to achieve with my restless expeditions. I asked those questions when I served in an orphanage in Nepal and when I built a camp for left-behind children in China. I asked those questions when I advised Fortune 500 companies as a strategy consultant and when I was receiving a world-class education at one of the top business schools. I asked those questions when I became a humanitarian photojournalist and when I documented minority cultures of displaced tribes around the world. I asked those questions when I committed myself to the field of education as a school leader and when I looked for opportunities to create educational changes in both developed and developing contexts. I asked the same questions when I dated and got married, when I reflected on my relationship with my family and the coming and going of people in my life. Those questions became an echo of my longing. Though the longing was vaguely defined, I knew it was concretely there, deeply resonating from within. It was loud, unignorable. It was leading me and pulling me forward, to progress and surpass, and to reach beyond what I thought was possible.

It wasn’t until this year through ontological life coaching as a client myself,
and now as a coach under certification, that I realized that

I spent all of this time, energy, and passion
simply to become myself.

IT WAS an astonishing realization that put me right at peace. Through the lenses of philanthropy, business, education leadership, art, and many other forms of expression, I was experimenting with different combinations of who I authentically am. Through those avenues, I discovered different aspects of my essential being while recognizing the pains, fears, shame, and struggles of being who I am. I was trying very hard to get to know myself, to face myself, to befriend myself, to embrace myself, to empower myself, and to love myself. I realized that the purpose of my journey is to become myself, to live out my essence to its fullest, and to celebrate who I was created to be.

AS MY LIFE COACH transformed my way of living and supported me through a challenging period of my professional journey, I experienced the power of Ontology coaching. I was, and I still am blown away by the depth of this coaching model, which refuses to stop at just fixing the surface or by putting down bandages. It insists on diving deep into the root of someone’s soul, discovering fundamental blockers that hinder someone from achieving their visions, and bringing sustainable, not temporary, changes in life. 

I’M COMMITTED to taking on Ontological life coaching as a powerful tool to design and create the impact I’d like to see in the world:

that everyone lives a joyful, fulfilled, and passionate life towards an inspirational and soul-satisfying vision.

Journey

Education
Business Administration

Bachelor of Science

Entrepreneurial Management

Master of Business Administration

Education Entrepreneurship

Master of Science

Ontological Life Coaching

ICF ACC Certification Program

Work
Bain & Company

Strategy Consultant

Yu Ming Charter School

Director of Operations

BASIS Independent Silicon Valley

Head of Operations

Commitments
Development Work

Experienced social worker and passionate advocate for children’s rights, equitable education access and poverty alleviation

Photojournalism

Professional humanitarian photojournalist and passionate advocate for culture diversity, social equity and humanitarianism

Education Innovation

Committed leader in the space of school management,  learning innovation and education entrepreneurship

Whole Person

Emerging professional life coach dedicated to promote whole person development for every individual