So you think you want a change. There’s something you want to be different in your life. Perhaps your CEO friend got her own executive coach. Perhaps you’ve been wondering if there’s something you can do to work on some of your growth feedback. Perhaps you’d like to be a better leader and figure out the secrets that everyone else seems to know.

Most of my clients have never worked with a coach before. They’re typically in the technology and/or creative fields given my design background. People seek out coaching because they want something to be different in their lives…

What causes you fear?

For many people in a professional setting, there’s a fear of public speaking and expressing your opinion. It can be on a large stage, perhaps TEDx in front of tens of thousands of people, fully mic-ed and camera-ready. It can be in a leadership meeting where you feel like you don’t quite belong, yet you have something to say. You see that something isn’t right in the work being presented, or the consensus of sameness in the room and you want to speak up and voice your opinion. …

I am a Thai woman, of Chinese heritage and a first-generation immigrant. I’ve spent 22 years working in tech before leaving corporate to start my own business coaching and advising leaders in tech. Last year, after the murders of George Floyd and Breonna Taylor amongst many others, I started introspecting about my own role in racism, and remembering the casual racism of my youth. I wrote about my Asian privilege where in the world of Silicon Valley and tech, I’d personally experienced far more sexism than racism. This is when I first encountered the term “model minority,” often used to…

I’ve worked with many people through the years both as a design leader in tech and now as a leadership coach. Many people continue to associate leadership with management, believing that you’re only a “real leader” when you have direct reports. This is a common limiting belief that we put on ourselves when we’re individual contributors. And on the other side of the coin, there’s been many years of my life when I’ve been a terrible manager of people. I had zero skills or training on how to lead and that negatively impacted the lives of people reporting to me.

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Waiting. Waiting. Waiting.

We might be waiting to hear back after a fantastic interview for a dream job, a pitch for funding, or that sales meeting that could save the business. We’ve all been there and many of my clients are actively waiting to hear back about something right now.

This isn’t a great place to be, especially not for active, high-performers who are used to springing into action. It feels like everything has been done—all the prep work before the meeting, showing up and presenting yourself well, and the requisite follow-ups afterwards. …

Many high-achieving professionals in tech at some point in their career find that their work has become their identity. In certain years, this can be a really good thing. Having the drive and capacity to pour all your energy into a professional endeavor is what powers innovation from both startups and larger tech companies. Yet, the danger zone of this is when life feels imbalanced. This imbalance happens when your work is your only identity and when things aren’t going well, especially in times of transition or stress. As we approach the one-year mark of the pandemic, we’ve seen the…

“Don’t be silly all women have imposter syndrome.”

A male coach had offered to help one of my clients with her imposter syndrome and when she told him that she thought her problem was possibly the opposite, he cut her off with those words.

This story made my blood boil. I’ve long had issue with the term imposter syndrome. I wrote in From Imposter Syndrome to Pioneer Syndrome:

Perhaps imposter syndrome isn’t a bad thing. If you’re feeling a little bit intimidated and out of your element, it’s likely a sign that you’re playing in the big leagues. You don’t…

I used to work out regularly with a personal trainer, Cam. This was when we still had in-person gyms and the camaraderie of sweating and grunting together. I got a personal trainer to keep me more accountable and to help me with the mechanics of strength training. As I aged, I wanted to build functional muscle strength in my entire body and particularly get stronger in my upper body to build up paddle power for surfing. I didn’t care how much I lifted or achieving personal record (PR) numbers. Or so I thought. It turns out that I’m pretty competitive…