Permission to Become

Liz Andolong is a first generation Filipina American, first to complete a college degree and first to go into the healing arts profession in her family. In this episode, we unwrapped her life journey of unpacking the different identities and hats she’s worn, her journey to seek spirituality, how she came to reclaim her cultural identity and identity as a woman, and finally how her own health crisis led to her work in energy healing, trauma-informed work, and ultimately as a healing practitioner and teaching at Esalen Institute.

I hope you will enjoy this conversation!

About Liz: 

Liz Andolong is a healing arts practitioner, facilitator, and intuitive educator who is passionate about holding spaces for folks to do less and feel more. It is within this space — or what she likes to call “the sacred pause” — that she believes folks are able to truly tap into the limitless healing power that is accessible within themselves through body centered experiences like nervous system regulation, energy work, subtle body exploration, somatic emotional release, and guided visualization. She believes every body possesses the power and the responsibility to heal themselves. A certified Usui Reiki Master, E-RYT200, and former teacher-in-residence at the Esalen Institute, Liz guides you from the outside in, in hopes you discover the infinite ways our bodies are our greatest teachers.

Born and based in San Francisco and Oakland, she is passionate about making healing accessible for every body, most especially sharing offerings through a trauma-informed lens for the BIPOC community.

To learn more about Liz: 

www.lizandolong.com

https://www.instagram.com/lizandolong/

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In this episode, I interviewed Aerin Lim, a coach, writer, storyteller, and teacher at the Hoffman Institute. Aerin was born and grew up in Korea. Before Aerin embarked on her spiritual journey, she followed the path of achieving material success, getting an Ivy League degree at Brown University, taking up prestigious roles in Investment Banking in NYC and later at tech startups and venture fund companies in the Silicon Valley. However, her world was shaken up when we lost her mother to cancer, led her to begin a profound journey of self-discovery, healing, and transformation. Her experiences led her to create her own map of healing that incorporated different modalities of healing and carved her unique path to serve, surrender, and channel her passion into writing, coaching, and teaching. She shared with us how she found her personal mission statement, how she recommitted to her path over and over again, despite fear, her daily process to stay spiritually grounded, the one question she asks herself everyday to stay on course, what wholeness means to her, and how she engages with her meditation process to be in touch with extraordinary consciousness in the present moment.

I hope you will enjoy this episode!!

About Aerin: 

Aerin is a coach, writer, storyteller and teacher at the Hoffman process. She inquires, explores, and holds space for others’ unfolding. She is driven by her curiosity to understand consciousness, people, and the world so we take care of each other collectively as a community. Her personal mission is to meditate, play, and serve. She hopes to make our world brighter by deepening our presence and elevating our well-being through coaching, teaching, and authentic storytelling.

To connect with Aerin: 

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This is a special Valentine’s Day edition episode where I am sharing my conversation with Dating Clarity Coach Kat Nieh.

Prior to becoming a dating clarity coach, Kat worked at a fast growing tech startup. While she was passionate about her work and her company’s mission, she found herself burnt out and searching for something more to life. This sparked her journey of self-discovery, where she learned to surrender to the process of becoming, taking responsibility for the life she wanted to create, to explore what it means to be a woman, to be Asian, to grow up bicultural, to be a creative, to let go of her tech job and labels she has attached herself to. Since she gave herself the permission to embark on her personal evolution, Kat became an NLP Master Practitioner, award-winning author, speaker, writer, and fulfilled her dream of traveling to all 7 continents within 12 months. More importantly, we talked about how she stepped into her own femininity and was called to channel her own passion into her current as a dating clarity coach, to help others step into conscious relationships and be transformed in the process. 

Also, given the timely release of this episode before Valentine’s Day. Kat just released her latest guided journal called "Love Vision Clarity" on Amazon. This is an amazing guide that will bring you clarity on your ideal partner and relationship whether you’re single or in the early stages of a relationship. The best part is, it is FREE on Kindle before Wed 2/15/23! So make sure to grab your copy today! 

I am SO EXCITED to share my conversation with Kat!

About Kat:

Kat Nieh is a dating clarity coach that empowers frustrated and discouraged singles to get clear about who and what they want in a relationship to manifest their partner. Prior to becoming a coach, writer, and award-winning author, she was a burnt-out workaholic who left the tech industry and her 12-year design career where she honed her resourcefulness and creative problem-solving skills. Now she passionately brings her years of knowledge and expertise to guide her clients in boosting their self confidence, elevating their dating perspective, and taking aligned actions towards co-creating their dream relationship.

Check out Kat's guided journal "Love Vision Clarity" on Amazon (available in paperback, hardcover, and kindle). Whether you’re single or in the early stages of a relationship, this guided journal will help you discover and create a clear vision and detailed blueprint of your ideal partner and dream relationship. After you’re done, the clarity you get will boost your confidence and empower you to manifest and co-create what you truly desire.

Website: www.thoughtfullykat.com/journal

Social: @thoughtfullykat (Twitter + Instagram)

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Joanna Ho is a New York Times bestselling and award winning author who has written a number of picture books, including Eyes that Kiss in the Corners, Eyes that Speak to the Stars, and Playing at the Border, which received numerous distinguished awards, including the Golden Kite Award, an Ezra Jack Keats Honor, and a Golden Poppy Award. Most recently, she published her first young adult novel, The Silence that Binds Us, which just received the Asian/Pacific American Award from American Library Association. 

In this episode, Joanna shares her personal evolution from being an educator and advocate for anti-bias, anti-racism, and equity work to becoming a full-time writer, novelist, and best-selling author with a mission of elevating AAPI representation through literature and picture books. It was inspiring to learn that her racial awakening at Camp Anytown in high school inspired her passion to devote herself to public education, which had an underrepresentation of AAPI. She also shared with us her journey to becoming a best-selling and award-winning author, after years of rejection and having written several unpublished books before landing her first acceptance.

I hope you will enjoy this episode! 

About Joanna:

Joanna Ho is the New York Times bestselling and award-winning author of many books for kids. She has received the Golden Kite Award, an Ezra Jack Keats Honor, and a Golden Poppy Award. She is a writer and educator with a passion for anti-bias, anti-racism and equity work. She holds a BA in psychology from the University of Pennsylvania, and a master’s from the Principal Leadership Institute at Berkeley. She has been an English teacher, a dean, the designer of an alternative-to-prison program, a creator of educator professional development, and a high school vice principal. She lives in the Bay Area, where she survives on homemade chocolate chip cookies, outdoor adventures, and dance parties with her kids. Keep your eyes open for more books to come!

To connect with Joanna:

Pre-order Joanna's latest book, One Day (to be released on March 14, 2023), a mother's love letter to her newborn son, a dreaming of all the ways he will grow up and embrace the world. ⁠https://www.joannahowrites.com/one-day

Check out her other books: https://www.joannahowrites.com/books

Twitter: @joannahowrites

Instagram: @joannahowrites

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In this episode, we dove into the life journey of a spiritual teacher and seeker, Jovinna Chan, through the many seasons of her personal evolution, from immigrating to America to study global marketing in Louisiana, then moving to New York City to pursue her passion for theater, arts, and dance by moonlighting as an actress and dancer while working in her day job at CitiGroup. Her life took another turn when her life circumstances led her to pursue her spiritual path and she ended up devoting 8 years to study yoga at the Kripalu Yoga Center. Because Jovinna is one of the few Asian American female faculty members at Esalen, we unpacked why there are so few Asian American female representation in the spiritual community and how Jovinna is, once again, redefining her own life journey and chartering the path for the collective evolution by bringing more diversity, equity, and inclusion, through her unique gifts, personal experiences, and Asian representation, in the healing space.

About Jovinna:

Jovinna Chan is a seeker who desires to know the truth of who she is and to experience spiritual union with the Divine. Jovinna Chan, E-RYT 500, YACEP, co-founded Shakti Initiation Yoga Leadership School and A Wild Life Sanctuary™. She served as the assistant dean and 200- and 500-hour teacher trainer for the Kripalu School of Yoga and is a certified Soul Motion™ and LetYourYogaDance Teacher. Jovinna is a co-founder of Pranotthan School of Yoga and leads transformational programs around the world. She has taught many workshops and trainings at Kripalu Center, Omega Institute, Esalen Institute, and 1440 Multiversity.

To connect with Jovinna:

Website: https://jovinna.com/

Youtube: https://www.youtube.com/c/jovinnachan

Instagram: @jovinnachan

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It was the summer of 2020, at the height of the pandemic, Kyla Zhao (@kylazhao) was living alone in California while completing her last year at Stanford University. Being all alone for months and not being able to unite with her family in Singapore led her to turn to books for comfort. During the height of anti-Asian racism, Kyla realized that many of the books she read did not feature characters of color with whom she could relate to. This realization inspired Kyla to write her own book—one that features an entirely Asian cast of characters and is set in her hometown of Singapore. Although Kyla never thought she would publish her book, after completing her entire draft in 3 months, she eventually found an amazing agent and publisher who believed in her story and in Asian representation.

In this interview with Kyla, she shares with us her journey to becoming a creative novelist, from her early exposure working at fashion magazines such as Vogue, Harper's Bazaar, and Tatler, how the pandemic inspired her to write her first novel, how she managed to complete her draft in 3 months, how she found an agent who believed in her work and eventually received multiple offers from major book publishers, and finally her tips and advice for aspiring Asian American female writers!

About Kyla: 

Kyla is a lifestyle writer, fashion journalist, and author of her first debut novel, The Fraud Squad, a story about a working-class woman who worked her way into high society in order to get her dream job at a posh magazine and the world that unfolded from there. She grew up in Singapore and moved to California to attend Stanford University and majored in psychology and communications. She graduated in 2021 and has been working at a tech company in Silicon Valley since. But before that, she worked at several fashion magazines such as Vogue, Harper's Bazaar, and Tatler, which brought her up close with the glitz and glamor of high society. In addition to The Fraud Squad, she has two more books coming out in the next two years, another adult novel and a children’s novel.

To connect with Kyla: 

Check out her book, The Fraud Squad: https://kylazhao.com/the-fraud-squad/

Twitter: @kylazhao_

TikTok: @kylazingaround

Instagram: @kylajzhao

Email: [email protected]

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In this episode, I interviewed Yi Lin Pei, who is the director of product marketing at Teachable, an edtech start-up in New York City. At Teachable, Yi Lin and her team help build products that transform experiences and know-how into thriving businesses. In her spare time, Yi Lin is also a tech career coach (www.techgrowthcoach.com) who is helping high-achieving individuals find and land their dream jobs. She has 11 years of experience across various tech companies in Silicon Valley and New York. She is also a mother to an 8 months old daughter.

In this episode, you will learn about:

Links:

This podcast episode is sponsored by Audible: Go to https://www.audibletrial.com/permissiontobecome to get 1 month free trial!

Follow this podcast on Instagram @permissiontobecome for the latest updates! Also, if you love this podcast, I'd love for you to leave a comment or review on Apple Podcast. I'd love to hear from you!

In this episode, I invited Elena Chen onto the podcast. 

Elena is a lead product manager for Google Play Points Rewards, the loyalty program of Google Play, a multi-billion dollar marketplace. Outside of work, she is passionate about sharing her learnings about PM leadership and people empowerment with a broader audience. She is an ICF-certified leadership coach and a Youtuber. Prior to Google, she was an investment banker at J.P. Morgan and Credit Suisse. She holds an MBA and a Master of Education degree from Stanford University.

I loved Elena's radical honesty, humility and self-awareness that transpired through this episode, as we chatted about her "typical Chinese upbringing", working in the finance world and finding herself not happy nor fulfilled, going on the soul-searching journey that eventually led her to Stanford GSB, starting a coaching business, and being a Product Manager at Google. More importantly, we talked about her inner journey of wrestling with her tension between her need for safety and spaciousness and balancing her analytical, problem-solving nature with her empathy and creativity. Finally, Elena shared with us her secret to building self-worth that completely changed her life. 

Links: 

This podcast episode is sponsored by

Audible: Go to https://www.audibletrial.com/permissiontobecome to get 1 month free trial!

Follow this podcast on Instagram @permissiontobecome for the latest updates! Also, if you love this podcast, I'd love for you to leave a comment or review on Apple Podcast. I'd love to hear from you!

In this episode, I am so excited to have Ann Shen (@anndanger) on the podcast. Ann Shen is an illustrator, letterer, and best-selling author based in Los Angeles. With over 10 years of industry experience, Ann has worked with major clients, such as Disney, Adobe, NY Times and she’s designed everything from theme park artwork to fashion doll packaging. She has written and illustrated 3 best-selling books and has been featured on Forbes, Huffington Post, and many other major press journals.

I first came to learn about Ann and her work during my year of career sabbatical, when I decided to embark on my own journey of becoming, to find and reclaim my true self. On that journey, I found her books, especially Legendary Ladies, 50 Goddesses to Empower and Inspire You, to have helped me reclaim my own femininity and personal power as a woman. I also fell in love with her illustrations that captured the magic of our imagination, creative play, and beauty.

In this episode, we will be diving into her own journey of becoming and how she gave herself the permission to CREATE HER OWN PATH.

In addition to writing and illustrating three best-selling books: Bad Girls Throughout History (2016), Legendary Ladies (2018), Nevertheless, She Wore It (2020), all published by Chronicle Books, Ann will be releasing her 4th book, called Revolutionary Women, on October 18th!!

Links:

This podcast episode is sponsored by

Follow this podcast on Instagram @permissiontobecome for the latest updates! Also, if you love this podcast, I'd love for you to leave a comment or review on Apple Podcast. I'd love to hear from you!

If you are seeking more support from other women who are walking on a similar journey, I'd like to invite you to join the free Permission to Become Community!

In this episode, I invited Sha Hurley (@sha.hurley)on the podcast. Sha is currently a global program manager at Google. Outside of her professional career, she also runs a holistic coaching program where she helps women who are burnt out to achieve self-mastery and personal fulfillment.

In this episode, we dived into Sha's own healing journey, as she navigated through her own shadows, the shadows of her emotions, and eventually emerged as an empowered woman who has not only discovered her true self, her soul purpose but also founded her soul-aligned business to support other women on their path of becoming. I hope you enjoy this episode as we tune in to hear Sha's incredible journey! 

Sha’s Bio:

Sha Hurley (@sha.hurley) is passionate about transformation, both digital and self transformations.

By day, Sha is a Global Program Manager & Digital Transformation Advisor at Google Cloud helping hi-potential digital-native companies and F500 companies accelerate growth and impact.

By weekend and night, Sha guides compassionate and creative women in Tech who feel stuck, anxious or burned out to achieve self-mastery for an empowered, peaceful and purposeful life with her signature "Inner Peace Journey" 1:1 coaching program (https://shahurley.com/services/inner-peace/) as a certified Holistic Well-being & Leadership Coach and Yoga & Meditation Teacher. Her vision is "One peaceful, connected and empowered soul at a time for a better world and solid foundation for our next generations." More specifically, She aims to bring spirituality, well-being, and humanity to the Tech Corporate world through coaching, well-being workshops, yoga & meditation teaching. You can learn more at shahurley.com. 

I'm so excited to share that Sha is offering a special discount to her "Thrive Essential" offering on her website. Promo code: thrive2022. 

This podcast episode is sponsored by

Follow this podcast on Instagram @permissiontobecome for the latest updates! Also, if you love this podcast, I'd love for you to leave a comment or review on Apple Podcast. I'd love to hear from you!

If you are seeking more support from other women who are walking on a similar journey, I'd like to invite you to join the free Permission to Become Community!