“Instead of trying to focus too much on myself and being in my head, let me focus on other people. Let me try to solve their issues and in turn maybe that’ll help me solve my own issues” - Yue Xu

After moving to the United States at 8 years old from China and becoming a citizen, she changed her name to Yosemite after joking with her mother. She loved going to her grandmother’s disco dancing classes from a very young age. These are just a couple of fun facts about my latest guest on the podcast, Yue Xu. This is one of my favorite interviews to have done because of her openness and the way she demonstrated both persistence and creativity in her life journey.

After college, Yue moved to Los Angeles and became a professional dancer on the side of her full time job where she auditioned for a Missy Elliott music video. Yue realized she had a passion for market research while conducting surveys and became fascinated by asking the right questions that combined elements of both business and psychology. This made sense for her as she was always a great listener. She liked to get to the root of issues by constantly asking the question “why” which would later contribute to her business in dating and relationships. Her first client told her that listening to him speak about his dating problems was something he would pay her for.

Later, when she was 25 and sitting in an office, she realized that she wanted to be an influencer for other people. The idea of becoming a TV host popped up in her mind after watching Ryan Seacrest on television. So she started recording demo reels of herself and sent them to different news agencies and fortunately, they were looking for people just like her. Yue would later move to Beijing where she became the host of the Chinese version of the UK series “The Gadget Show” where she would get the enjoyment of checking out the latest inventions from new technology companies.

She says there are different personalities for different industries; some people are comfortable with a trajectory while others are more comfortable experimenting with a lot of new things. She recommends focusing on two or three things you can be really good at through trial and error if you’re in the latter category. Write a list of all the things you’re interested in and try those things. For anyone in their first job, she recommends treating your it like a training ground for what your ideal career and to compartmentalize it so you can spend the rest of your day exploring other interests. She also explained that it’s natural to hit your mid-20s and start questioning everything including how you would like to contribute to the world.

This was a great interview and I highly encourage folks in their 20’s to give it a listen here. You can follow Yue on Instagram @nonplatonic or visit her website yuexu.com. Additionally, she has a podcast on dating called Dateable where her and her co-host hold candid conversations about dating in San Francisco.

“I got this new addiction to rucking… I was like why am I doing this”

Growing up in a family of seven children doesn’t seem easy, but for Samantha Morrison, it seemed like her parents raised everyone to be high achievers. Samantha’s, who goes by Sam, father encouraged her to be on the year round swim team when one day, he bought her a bike. The next day, at age 14, she competed in her first triathlon and since then, she’s been hooked. She would later attend the Air Force Academy where she received her degree in behavioral science also completing her first ironman triathlon during her junior year. Sam qualified for the world championships in Kona, Hawaii on her first try and has gone back to race three more times before becoming the 18-24 female age group world champion in 2015.

Sam was a professional triathlete until the fall of 2015 when she elected to back to work in public affairs full time. She hasn’t left her athleticism and training behind, however, as she currently does a morning, mid-day, and afternoon workouts. Although she tries to keep her athletics and her professional lives separate, her positive habits and behaviors haven’t gone unnoticed by her co-workers who regularly ask to work out with her.

One of the big takeaways I got from the interview with Sam was on consistency and making sure to fill up my calendar. In order to maintain her athleticism, Sam knows what she has to do when she wakes up as well as when she arrives home from work which is a great habit to have. It allows less time lost to dawdling or vegging out, and I think this can be applied to other significant projects besides activities like going to the gym. Although she’s maintained roughly the same diet for 4 to 5 years, she would like to remind aspiring endurance athletes that while a good diet is important, you can still indulge in pizza nights on Fridays.

If you have questions for Sam, you can reach her on LinkedIn or through her personal email ([email protected]).

If you enjoy the interview, please take the time to follow me on Soundcloud and leave a review for the podcast on iTunes or Google Play.

“I got this new addiction to rucking… I was like why am I doing this”

Growing up in a family of seven children doesn’t seem easy, but for Samantha Morrison, it seemed like her parents raised everyone to be high achievers. Samantha’s, who goes by Sam, father encouraged her to be on the year round swim team when one day, he bought her a bike. The next day, at age 14, she competed in her first triathlon and since then, she’s been hooked. She would later attend the Air Force Academy where she received her degree in behavioral science also completing her first ironman triathlon during her junior year. Sam qualified for the world championships in Kona, Hawaii on her first try and has gone back to race three more times before becoming the 18-24 female age group world champion in 2015.

Sam was a professional triathlete until the fall of 2015 when she elected to back to work in public affairs full time. She hasn’t left her athleticism and training behind, however, as she currently does a morning, mid-day, and afternoon workouts. Although she tries to keep her athletics and her professional lives separate, her positive habits and behaviors haven’t gone unnoticed by her co-workers who regularly ask to work out with her.

One of the big takeaways I got from the interview with Sam was on consistency and making sure to fill up my calendar. In order to maintain her athleticism, Sam knows what she has to do when she wakes up as well as when she arrives home from work which is a great habit to have. It allows less time lost to dawdling or vegging out, and I think this can be applied to other significant projects besides activities like going to the gym. Although she’s maintained roughly the same diet for 4 to 5 years, she would like to remind aspiring endurance athletes that while a good diet is important, you can still indulge in pizza nights on Fridays.

If you have questions for Sam, you can reach her on LinkedIn or through her personal email ([email protected]).

If you enjoy the interview, please take the time to follow me on Soundcloud and leave a review for the podcast on iTunes or Google Play.

“I got this new addiction to rucking… I was like why am I doing this”

Growing up in a family of seven children doesn’t seem easy, but for Samantha Morrison, it seemed like her parents raised everyone to be high achievers. Samantha’s, who goes by Sam, father encouraged her to be on the year round swim team when one day, he bought her a bike. The next day, at age 14, she competed in her first triathlon and since then, she’s been hooked. She would later attend the Air Force Academy where she received her degree in behavioral science also completing her first ironman triathlon during her junior year. Sam qualified for the world championships in Kona, Hawaii on her first try and has gone back to race three more times before becoming the 18-24 female age group world champion in 2015.

Sam was a professional triathlete until the fall of 2015 when she elected to back to work in public affairs full time. She hasn’t left her athleticism and training behind, however, as she currently does a morning, mid-day, and afternoon workouts. Although she tries to keep her athletics and her professional lives separate, her positive habits and behaviors haven’t gone unnoticed by her co-workers who regularly ask to work out with her.

One of the big takeaways I got from the interview with Sam was on consistency and making sure to fill up my calendar. In order to maintain her athleticism, Sam knows what she has to do when she wakes up as well as when she arrives home from work which is a great habit to have. It allows less time lost to dawdling or vegging out, and I think this can be applied to other significant projects besides activities like going to the gym. Although she’s maintained roughly the same diet for 4 to 5 years, she would like to remind aspiring endurance athletes that while a good diet is important, you can still indulge in pizza nights on Fridays.

If you have questions for Sam, you can reach her on LinkedIn or through her personal email ([email protected]).

If you enjoy the interview, please take the time to follow me on Soundcloud and leave a review for the podcast on iTunes or Google Play.

“I feel it’s my obligation to help up and coming people” - Sandra Ponce de Leon

Born in Peru, Sandra Ponce de Leon migrated to the U.S. with her family when she was only a year old. Her father spoke very little English and had to make his own way to provide for his family in a new country. This drive for hard work rubbed off on her from an early age as she began taking a non-linear path focusing on having lots of experiences and finding great mentors. Intending to work in finance, she took the chartered financial analyst exam after college having studied for six months to prepare. After failing the exam, she realized that being an analyst was not in alignment with her skill set and interests. Afterwards, she created a marketing consultancy from the ground up which was later acquired by HipLogic where she continued to work as the VP of marketing. She navigated through different jobs taking a 2 year hiatus in her 20’s to work full time on a creative pursuit in jewelry while waiting tables to pay the bills. Sandra learned how to be content living on only a small salary because she had to be positive with restaurant customers.. She had a YouTube Channel called VIP Vino where she would interview accomplished guests over a glass of wine including Craigslist founder Craig Newmark. Sandra has had an exciting career through multiple startups some of which have gotten acquired or run out of money. Most recently, she founded Trunx, a cloud-based photo platform that allows users to maintain privacy and free space on their phone; it was featured on The Today Show. Her current endeavor is advising a company bringing a children’s computer to market in order to arm them with the tools they need in life.

Over the course of her career, she’s learned when to ask for help and not to charge ahead with a task if it’s something you feel insecure about. She learned that successful people were struggling to find answers when they were young, so a lot of them enjoy paying it forward if you’re willing to ask. For people in their 20s Sandra recommends spending on experiences more than material things, finding ambitious like-minded people to work with, and living as lightly as possible. She also recommends conducting informational interviews into fields you would like to break into. If you have further questions, you can reach Sandra on LinkedIn or through Twitter @sandramp. Be on the lookout for her podcast titled Popping the Buble. You can listen to the full interview here. If you like what you hear, please follow on Soundcloud and write a review on iTunes. It would mean a lot to me!

Listen on SoundCloud.

Leave a rating/review on iTunes.

Leave a rating/review on Google Play.

“I feel it’s my obligation to help up and coming people” - Sandra Ponce de Leon

Born in Peru, Sandra Ponce de Leon migrated to the U.S. with her family when she was only a year old. Her father spoke very little English and had to make his own way to provide for his family in a new country. This drive for hard work rubbed off on her from an early age as she began taking a non-linear path focusing on having lots of experiences and finding great mentors. Intending to work in finance, she took the chartered financial analyst exam after college having studied for six months to prepare. After failing the exam, she realized that being an analyst was not in alignment with her skill set and interests. Afterwards, she created a marketing consultancy from the ground up which was later acquired by HipLogic where she continued to work as the VP of marketing. She navigated through different jobs taking a 2 year hiatus in her 20’s to work full time on a creative pursuit in jewelry while waiting tables to pay the bills. Sandra learned how to be content living on only a small salary because she had to be positive with restaurant customers.. She had a YouTube Channel called VIP Vino where she would interview accomplished guests over a glass of wine including Craigslist founder Craig Newmark. Sandra has had an exciting career through multiple startups some of which have gotten acquired or run out of money. Most recently, she founded Trunx, a cloud-based photo platform that allows users to maintain privacy and free space on their phone; it was featured on The Today Show. Her current endeavor is advising a company bringing a children’s computer to market in order to arm them with the tools they need in life.

Over the course of her career, she’s learned when to ask for help and not to charge ahead with a task if it’s something you feel insecure about. She learned that successful people were struggling to find answers when they were young, so a lot of them enjoy paying it forward if you’re willing to ask. For people in their 20s Sandra recommends spending on experiences more than material things, finding ambitious like-minded people to work with, and living as lightly as possible. She also recommends conducting informational interviews into fields you would like to break into. If you have further questions, you can reach Sandra on LinkedIn or through Twitter @sandramp. Be on the lookout for her podcast titled Popping the Buble. You can listen to the full interview here. If you like what you hear, please follow on Soundcloud and write a review on iTunes. It would mean a lot to me!

Listen on SoundCloud.

Leave a rating/review on iTunes.

Leave a rating/review on Google Play.

“I feel it’s my obligation to help up and coming people” - Sandra Ponce de Leon

Born in Peru, Sandra Ponce de Leon migrated to the U.S. with her family when she was only a year old. Her father spoke very little English and had to make his own way to provide for his family in a new country. This drive for hard work rubbed off on her from an early age as she began taking a non-linear path focusing on having lots of experiences and finding great mentors. Intending to work in finance, she took the chartered financial analyst exam after college having studied for six months to prepare. After failing the exam, she realized that being an analyst was not in alignment with her skill set and interests. Afterwards, she created a marketing consultancy from the ground up which was later acquired by HipLogic where she continued to work as the VP of marketing. She navigated through different jobs taking a 2 year hiatus in her 20’s to work full time on a creative pursuit in jewelry while waiting tables to pay the bills. Sandra learned how to be content living on only a small salary because she had to be positive with restaurant customers.. She had a YouTube Channel called VIP Vino where she would interview accomplished guests over a glass of wine including Craigslist founder Craig Newmark. Sandra has had an exciting career through multiple startups some of which have gotten acquired or run out of money. Most recently, she founded Trunx, a cloud-based photo platform that allows users to maintain privacy and free space on their phone; it was featured on The Today Show. Her current endeavor is advising a company bringing a children’s computer to market in order to arm them with the tools they need in life.

Over the course of her career, she’s learned when to ask for help and not to charge ahead with a task if it’s something you feel insecure about. She learned that successful people were struggling to find answers when they were young, so a lot of them enjoy paying it forward if you’re willing to ask. For people in their 20s Sandra recommends spending on experiences more than material things, finding ambitious like-minded people to work with, and living as lightly as possible. She also recommends conducting informational interviews into fields you would like to break into. If you have further questions, you can reach Sandra on LinkedIn or through Twitter @sandramp. Be on the lookout for her podcast titled Popping the Buble. You can listen to the full interview here. If you like what you hear, please follow on Soundcloud and write a review on iTunes. It would mean a lot to me!

Listen on SoundCloud.

Leave a rating/review on iTunes.

Leave a rating/review on Google Play.

Beat from JeeJuh.com

@Lewishowes

Lyrics:

Chorus:

It’s the School of Greatness, found my A-List, yeah. Woah Woah

Verse:

One more time for the man and his name’s Lewis Howes

Back when I was little, used to read about how nows, and brown cows

Went on the Internet up to Amazon, figured I’d do a little browsin

For anything that would help me to improve

Get me in the groove, something my parents would approve, of

I was feeling all aimless, wasting time on Craigslist

Right then and there I found it, the school of greatness (say it how Lewis Howes says it)

Hopped right on the wait list, try to find my A-List

But anyway,

He started on his sister’s couch, never really was a slouch

Wrote a book about LinkedIn, through the terms that he thinks in,

circles that he drinks in, take a moment let it sink in

Are You’re feeling down on your luck? Well listen to the episodes with Gary Vaynerchuck and Tony Ro-b-b-i-ns, going down in history and that’s the rest of the rap, hope it wasn’t tasteless,

Now let me introduce you to the School-of-Greatness

Beat from JeeJuh.com

@Lewishowes

Lyrics:

Chorus:

It’s the School of Greatness, found my A-List, yeah. Woah Woah

Verse:

One more time for the man and his name’s Lewis Howes

Back when I was little, used to read about how nows, and brown cows

Went on the Internet up to Amazon, figured I’d do a little browsin

For anything that would help me to improve

Get me in the groove, something my parents would approve, of

I was feeling all aimless, wasting time on Craigslist

Right then and there I found it, the school of greatness (say it how Lewis Howes says it)

Hopped right on the wait list, try to find my A-List

But anyway,

He started on his sister’s couch, never really was a slouch

Wrote a book about LinkedIn, through the terms that he thinks in,

circles that he drinks in, take a moment let it sink in

Are You’re feeling down on your luck? Well listen to the episodes with Gary Vaynerchuck and Tony Ro-b-b-i-ns, going down in history and that’s the rest of the rap, hope it wasn’t tasteless,

Now let me introduce you to the School-of-Greatness

Beat from JeeJuh.com

@Lewishowes

Lyrics:

Chorus:

It’s the School of Greatness, found my A-List, yeah. Woah Woah

Verse:

One more time for the man and his name’s Lewis Howes

Back when I was little, used to read about how nows, and brown cows

Went on the Internet up to Amazon, figured I’d do a little browsin

For anything that would help me to improve

Get me in the groove, something my parents would approve, of

I was feeling all aimless, wasting time on Craigslist

Right then and there I found it, the school of greatness (say it how Lewis Howes says it)

Hopped right on the wait list, try to find my A-List

But anyway,

He started on his sister’s couch, never really was a slouch

Wrote a book about LinkedIn, through the terms that he thinks in,

circles that he drinks in, take a moment let it sink in

Are You’re feeling down on your luck? Well listen to the episodes with Gary Vaynerchuck and Tony Ro-b-b-i-ns, going down in history and that’s the rest of the rap, hope it wasn’t tasteless,

Now let me introduce you to the School-of-Greatness