"Focus on theWHY", with Dr. Shi Choong, on Event Planning, Bringing Joy to Community, Purpose, and The Abundance Mindset.

Transcript:
0:12
We are recording Hello everyone, Welcome to The Intersection, a podcast program about intersectionality, intersectional identities and intersectional journeys, both professional journeys and personal journeys.
0:28
And they are very interconnected.
Today I have the privilege and pleasure to welcome a new age friend.
But we quickly hit it off.
So even though we, you know, didn't know each other for a very long time, I feel like we've been connected very much in recent times.
0:48
And her name is Shu Chong, and she is one of the guest I had on the program who is also a doctor.
So without further ado, I want to invite Shu to introduce herself.
Welcome, Shu.
Thank you, Joe.
1:05
Hello.
Hello all.
My name is Shi Chun and I am a event planner.
I was born and raised in Malaysia, and I moved to San Francisco for college education and ultimately get a chance to move to Indiana for my PHDI got my PhD from Purdue for analytical chemistry, got recruited by Intel right here at Hillsboro to be an engineer, and seven months ago I quit Intel to be a wedding planner.
1:39
Woo Hoo.
Yeah, and what else?
I have two dogs.
Yay.
Yes.
So I want to kind of address this, which we kind of talked about earlier is even though you quit Intel just seven months ago and became an event planner, it doesn't mean you are new to event planning.
1:57
You actually are very seasoned event planner.
So I want you to maybe share a little bit about your background, you know, coming to the US and also, you know, you started your career and your life as a scholar or like a researcher and you have a PhD on.
2:16
Analytical chemistry analyze You analyze your analytical chemistry.
Yes, so very, very academic and research heavy and then switch to, you know, getting to corporate life at Intel and then eventually shift to your entrepreneurship journey.
2:35
And as I mentioned, you actually have a lot of experience with event planning.
So tell us your story.
OK, Yeah, I'll focus a little bit more on the my my educational journey.
I'll touch on a little bit more about my event planning later on.
2:53
So little background was I was born in Malaysia and when I was 15, both of my parents decided they they no longer wanted.
3:10
Anyway, both of my parents just left so they abandoned us.
So I ended up being an adult overnight to be to take care of my three younger siblings.
They were 1311 and eight years old.
So I have always been good in school.
3:28
So despite all the chaos in my life, you know, juggling 2 jobs, taking care of my siblings, I still maintain to be at the top of the school.
Yeah.
And I knew I was gifted.
I just didn't want that to slip away.
So I held on to that really, really hard.
3:46
And Fast forward, I got an opportunity to go to school in Singapore.
I also, and I have to thank my mother's boyfriend.
So a year after my mother abandoned us, she came back and her boyfriend at that time right away saw I was a talented student.
4:09
So he helped me apply to school in Singapore.
And I, that's when I learned how to in English really.
And then really, I learned my love in chemistry.
So the school commute was crazy because every morning I wake up at no, I will leave home at 4:30 AM, cram into the public bus to go across the border between Malaysia and Singapore.
4:38
So we're on.
Yeah, we're on the bus for 2 1/2 to 3 hours to cross the international border.
And so round trips were pretty much about 5 hours.
Despite all that, I just found like, I really, really love chemistry.
I was really good at it.
The formula, the chemistry, the equation makes sense to me.
4:56
So somebody told me I should come to apply to school in Singapore.
In the States.
I apply and so I I came, I got my college degree and got my chemistry degree from San Francisco State University.
5:14
So when I landed here, I actually work 4 jobs to pay off my college.
And even though I learned English in Singapore, everything was learned in written form.
So I was very good at writing.
Not very good at writing.
5:29
I mean, like I could read and write and the basic grammar no problem.
But when I landed in San Francis, it's different.
You know, everybody spoke, everybody speaks in English.
So and when you're in a conversation, it's very quick.
And also Singapore learn more on the British English versus American American.
5:49
So it's very different in a way.
So I could not speak English.
And so I just watched CNN.
I just turned on to CNN news station.
That was the first one that popped out.
I was just read the subtitle, read the caption and learn from the news anchor to like how to pronounce certain word.
6:10
And I have my notebook and dictionary right next to me.
I always write everything.
And so eventually I got pretty good at communicating with English and did well in school.
And I got a job very quickly after college graduation, graduation at Genentech and I was a assistant researcher from that.
6:31
I was working with a small molecule department that we the scientists were made at drugs pretty much.
So I use they have to analyze the purity of the medication or the product they created.
So they were always like, Hey, she can you purify it?
6:48
Because when they made the product, it has a lot of side product.
So maybe out of it is only 65% are pure or you know, however, some of them gave me like 10 take 10 milligrams.
That's like can you get 5 milligram out of there?
7:05
I was like, I'll try, you know.
So that process just very, very, it's a very interesting process for me.
And I learned like how when they gave me a vial of brown liquid or junky stuff, I was able to give them at the end product is quite fluffy product and very pure.
7:27
So I got to learn all the instrument analyze, you know, the purification analyze, they get them something.
They were like so happy.
So there was like, I remember there was a scientist he gave me that 10 milligram and then I was able to gave him that 5 milligram of 95.
7:45
No, I think 95 or 99% purity.
So he he was like, thank you, she I have enough to do my next experiment and get the whole everything.
He was so happy and I feel like, wow, OK, that was cool.
It was meaningful.
And at that time I was hoping Genentech will get sponsor me for green card.
8:07
So after working there for about two years, they did not because I didn't have a PhD.
Everybody has a bachelor degree, right?
So I was told that I need a PhD to do it.
I was debating to get a from the like a doctor or pharmacist versus APHD from the kind of require almost like a quarter million of tuition fee.
8:33
I was like, I don't really have that.
And somebody else told me like if I got lucky, I will get paid to learn to take the PhD program.
I was like, that sounds fantastic.
So I apply, I only look, I only apply to 1, I think, or two program.
8:53
I always look for the best school, of course.
Yeah.
So I applied to Purdue, which is number one in the nation for analytical chemistry.
So I analyzed, learnt on the instrument and I got in.
And yeah, so after almost six years, like 5 1/2 years, I got my PhD in analytical chemistry, and ten months before my graduation, I was already recruited and got a job offer by Intel to be their engineer.
9:24
Wow, that's so inspiring.
Thank you.
That's.
So good at school.
I don't know.
I still don't know why I was good at it, but I just knew.
I always great at it and I was good at things that people like.
I was great in chemistry, not organic chemistry, general chemistry.
9:41
I cannot do organic chemistry for some reason.
And then in calculus, calculus algebra, they are like super easy for me because they're just, they're just numbers for me.
They just move things around and somehow get an answer.
9:58
Yeah.
Oh my God the the teenager me is super jealous of you.
I took so many out of school classes to make up for my math.
It's it what?
10:14
It remains miserable.
I studied so hard.
I tried really hard because I really wanted to do well, but it just didn't work.
That was me in bio biology.
So anything biology, kinesiology, things like that.
10:31
I I will be like in your shoes.
I work really hard, I study really hard.
I write flash cards and rewrite notes.
I got AB plus maybe AC plus something like that was me.
But for my chemistry and calculus, I just have to do homework once and kind of flip through my notes right before the exam.
10:52
I'm typically the top student in class.
That's so fascinating, of course.
Yeah, yeah.
So thankfully.
So then I use that as a way sometimes I tutor.
So while I was a student, I was tutoring and that's how I helped me to pay for my tuition and things like that, Yeah.
11:13
Wow, that's wonderful.
I mean, I think everyone, we're all talented in our own ways.
And I feel like your analytical mind definitely is really helpful for your like role right now.
So I'm curious, like you got recruited by Intel way before your graduation and what was it like to like move from Indiana to Oregon, Hillsboro?
11:38
Hillsboro, yeah, Hillsboro OR yes, it was very good, but before it became very good, it was very terrifying.
And the reason was because for some reason, I'm not sure if you knew about the PhD program.
11:54
PhD is it's extremely difficult in terms of like, so like undergrad, as long as I finish certain classes, I check out the checklist, I finish everything I graduate.
But for PhD it doesn't work that way.
12:10
You can finish everything you're supposed to, but if your PhD advisor doesn't let you graduate, you cannot graduate.
They might even just kick you out and then you get a master degree or something like that.
So it was very different from the standard master program or bachelor degree.
12:29
For my case, my PhD advisor actually didn't want me to graduate.
Yeah, so I was too productive in a way.
So I was able to get a lot of papers out, a lot of research done in a short time.
So she was trying to get tenure, so she wouldn't let me graduate.
12:48
My God, yeah.
Yeah, so I snapped out on taking like a sick leave quote UN quote and I'm I flew to Oregon to get interviewed at Intel went through all everything went back did not say a word until I got my job offer.
13:08
And then so I still did not really felt comfortable telling her because I was just afraid something could happen.
And I, but she just kept giving me research.
I was like, hey, it's been like, you know, based on this timeline, I cannot finish and I need to graduate.
13:29
And because Intel has really got me a job.
And also at the time I was still on student visa.
So if my student visa expire, my passport is about to expire.
And I still don't get, it's just very complex.
13:46
It's a very, very sensitive timeline for me.
So I needed to graduate very quickly.
And she wouldn't, she wouldn't just refused to let me go.
I was like, you want me to get deported?
I don't know.
It get really, really, really, really bad.
Very ugly, very weird.
14:01
Yeah.
So I was very, very thankful that the head of department happened to be on the like saw me all the time that I work sometime till 2/3, 4:00 AM in the middle of the night in the basement, like every day on the weekend, whatever in winter time, whatever.
14:20
So he always saw me in the hallway working right.
So one day I'll just like, hey, Scott, I, this is what I have done.
I lay out all the paperwork, all the, all the papers I've written, all the research I've done.
I was like, but surely wouldn't let me graduate.
14:36
She was like, why are you still doing here?
I was like, I know you tell me.
He was like and then so he helped me.
So that turned around very quickly.
But still the dissertation defense was very, very, very difficult because it was a face off between me and my advisor.
14:56
No family, no research lapmate showed up in my defense.
So it was really me, my advisor and my supposedly community member for the like the other professor and the the head of department.
So we are like, it was a very, like she was trying to really invalidate my, my research or whatever.
15:26
But I was prepared because I knew that was gonna happen.
So I have a lot of slides and a lot of supporting documents to really show here's my data and that's what I do.
And at one point the head of department just jumped in and say this is enough, this is great.
15:41
Congratulation Dr. Chung.
And he shook my hand.
So he overwrote my advisor and I got my PhD.
That's so wild.
I also just wanted to highlight the nuances.
You know, there's, I mean, I think the story you just shared one allies, right?
16:00
You had the allies, otherwise you might have ended up differently.
It seems like you had people help you and eventually got you there.
And #2 is it sounded like your advisor was a woman and like why would you do that?
16:18
You are fellow woman scientist.
I have no idea.
Ultimately she actually, it's interestingly, she is my she was my second advisor.
My very first advisor was the role renowned professor.
16:34
He was the yeah, he's really, really good, very, very well known.
And he was the professor that trained majority of the professor that made that department number 1.
So I did a lot of work and he gave me a lot of private projects.
16:52
I got a lot of funding thing about petroleum, pharmaceutical, cosmetic, everything.
I got them done and one day I'll just say, hey, I'm doing all these private projects.
Yeah, I got several patents, but I cannot publish my work.
17:08
So to the world it means nothing.
I cannot just go to a job interview.
That's like, I have done so many things, but I cannot tell you anything I do.
It makes no sense, right.
So, so I kind of saw, I brought it out a few times.
He wouldn't let me do public work because I was really good at getting private funding and get researched that apparently.
17:32
And so I just being me being really resourceful, I kind of went to create my own research project, got my own funding.
The funding went through and that funding was able to support, I don't remember 10, at least 10 graduate students.
17:49
So it was a huge funding.
My name was not on it.
I challenged him.
He asked me to graduate with a master degree, but I already passed my PhD candidacy and all that.
So and my second advisor was the one that kind of quote, UN quote saved me from that situation because she needed somebody to help her do research and ultimately she was the one that really blocked like.
18:18
Wow.
I mean, it's so, oh gosh, it's so sad.
You would think people in academia, they would be kind of like wiser, you know, rise, like rise to the occasion, things like that.
18:35
But it really shows how, I mean, I think we're going to touch on this topic anyway, but they are so scarcity minded like.
Yes.
And it's all about hoarding their resources.
Yeah, and, and the point like, so you're asking me why women want to give hard time to another woman.
18:54
So for me, at that time when I was in PhD, I was in my mid 30s.
So I was older by a lot of people and my professor, she was relatively young.
I think she was probably late 30s, I would guess.
So we are in a way similar age, you know.
So I dress like how I like to dress.
19:12
I always like to wear like a tank top, jeans and blazer.
I want to wear something nice.
I typically don't wear T-shirt and sneakers to to laugh at one point she doesn't say it, but it becomes very subtle that she didn't like me to dress well.
19:30
So I had to tone down my my how I dress.
So I ended up wearing sweater and T-shirt and jeans and sneakers and my formal lap mates who knew me knew my fashion style.
She was like, he was like, she are you OK?
19:47
I was like, yeah, I'm OK.
Why?
He was like, you're wearing AT shirt, jeans and sneakers.
I've never seen you wearing that for the 3-4 years I work with you.
I was like, oh, well, so that is kind of like the, the extreme.
And then I was also heavily involved with TEDx, which I will talk about later, later.
20:07
I was very successful.
A lot of Deans of different colleges knew me.
So my advisor gave me an automaton either PhD or a TEDx.
So I and I don't have to gave up TEDx.
Wow, wow.
20:23
This.
Gosh, Yeah.
OK, I have so many questions.
Like, people, come on.
Well, I would like to think maybe these people have evolved over the years, but of course, we don't know that.
It just shows how sometimes dangerous that scarcity mindset is in our lives.
20:43
Yes.
OK.
So I think this is a perfect place to kind of like talk about your event planning career.
I mean, you mentioned you hosted TEDx events and that was wildly successful.
How did you do that and how did that help you transition from corporate life to right now entrepreneurs?
21:07
Yeah, so before I talk about TEDx, I'm going to give a little sneak peek about my childhood personality.
I have always been involved in like informally put events together for my temple, for my community.
Sometime for 50 people, sometime for up to 300 people.
21:23
I'll lead events.
Sometime I'll be in the front of the audience leading activity.
I was holding microphone that was like, hey, do this, do that.
You know, I I love those moment.
Like I was really, really good.
I can get a room of people like 2-3 hundred from let's see, I think 15 years old to 80 something year old in the room or move their body and start doing whatever thing I was doing.
21:52
They like started dancing with me.
It's just wild and I love it.
I love to be in the center of the attention and also absorb all this look of joy, look of this.
It's just beautiful.
22:08
You know, when everybody look at me being like happy and joyful, I love that emotion.
And I was very, very good at doing that.
And, but it was informal, you know, like, just like teenagers just do events like that.
And then I didn't think much about it.
22:25
And when I moved Fast forward, I was in grad school, I stumble upon Tedxperturu.
I, I don't even remember how I, I just stumble into it and I'll just like, ah, what is TEDx?
At that time, I didn't even know what is TEDx.
So I stumbled into it.
22:43
I volunteered before I knew it, I started to plan event.
I became the organizer, the partnership chair, executive and eventually the license holder.
So I've done, we have done events for 50 people to 1000 people.
But one particular one that I feel like is a turning point for me was there were, so before we get to the main TEDx event, which is 1000 people, we will do a lot of small little events to kind of bring excitement and really promote the big events.
23:13
So this particular smaller event, we were aiming for 200 people, and we were only given 15 minutes to transform a lecture hall into a intimate stage.
Thing about black curtains, spotlight cameras, everything is the whole theater stage.
23:35
And we had 10 minutes to break it down, ask everybody out of the room to clear the room because the next class was taking midterm.
We did just that.
We in 15 minutes were able to transform the lecture hall into the stage.
23:51
And not just 200 people showed out, 500 people did.
So my volunteer, right, she we have a problem.
I was like, what problem?
He's like she we have 500 people there lining around like wrapping around the building.
We have Purdue is located at West Lafayette and it is about 3 hours from Chicago.
24:12
People drove from Chicago, went through all the traffic and went to my events.
Wow, it was incredible.
Obviously it was a wild success and that particular event really make me feel I felt so happy, so energized.
24:30
I feel alive and that was something I have not felt for.
I don't remember when was the last time I felt it and and then in my head I was always eating as a ha.
We should do this, you know, I have so many more idea to keep creating more events to make it more successful.
24:48
It just, I was so happy and that was the part that helped me get through my PhD.
When PhD research was really hard, it that was my something to help me balance my emotion, help me take off my outburst or stress.
25:08
So yeah, when I have to make that decision to give up the Ted Axe, it was really difficult.
Anyway, I graduated from Purdue.
I joined Intel my first year.
I worked 130 hours a week.
It was ridiculous.
25:23
I did not sleep.
I don't know how I survived.
I would got into the health problem.
That's another conversation.
And then pandemic hurt hit.
So the whole time it was like when I move across the the the country from Indiana to Oregon, it was like, yay, I'm gonna start a new life.
25:44
I'm gonna get paycheck.
I'm gonna have so much money.
I can do everything.
I can manage so many things.
I was excited and I can finally leave this horrible place from Purdue because all the negative experience.
25:59
And then I came to Intel.
I was so happy I was able to afford a new car, new TV.
That was the first time I actually owned a TV.
Yeah.
And then I could just go to Whole Food and pick up grocery without looking at the price.
So I love it.
26:14
It was that amazing.
But then it's all like I have zero time to sleep, zero time to really enjoy for many years.
I do not know the city, the live around me.
I would just yeah, so, so and then pandemic hurt happened that at that time I have I lived in a one bedroom apartment.
26:38
So my TV station there, my couch is there.
My workstation is right next to the couch.
So, and then I have a lot of toilet paper.
So I feel like I feel really, really trapped.
I feel like my work is there, my life was there, my that's it, my work in there.
26:56
It's like my everything is just in that small little space and feel crowded.
And I got into a lot of like depression or body was really my body was not happy.
And then so it kind of trigger like what what makes me happy.
27:12
And it constantly brought me back to that moment, that particular event, you know, it was just making.
Yeah.
So it, it planted a seed and it transformed my life.
And I wanted to do events.
And because of that experience, and also because that event I forgot to mention was it was so inspirational for all the volunteers because at that time I worked with 10 cultures and 50 something volunteers.
27:40
They felt so inspired by the event that some of them ended up continuing to start their own TEDx programs.
So I felt like not only it was successful, it has inspired a lot of people to really do find their passion.
27:56
And I stay friend with some of the people I work with at that from that event.
I actually just received a letter handwritten letter from her last night.
Yeah, it's so sweet.
Yeah, so it's just so beautiful.
I have friendship, I have support.
It's just very pleasant.
28:12
And so that was the event planning site, but I was like, I can't really just jump in to do another TEDx event.
Doesn't make sense.
It kinda also triggered, I think pandemic was a very important timeline for me or Turning Point because I felt like it really helped me go inward and really figure things that truly matter.
28:38
I started like, you know, at that time I was probably, I don't know, mid 30s, I don't remember late 30s, I don't remember.
And I feel like why was I still alone being single?
I was not happy.
I was in pain and all this negative experience start popping up and then I look at the mirror, I say, come on, I still got it.
28:59
Why do I just I'm beautiful, successful and everything but why am I still single?
And it kind of make me realize I dated many people but every time the man I was dated told me he loved me I ran away.
29:18
Like I would either like break up very quickly or I would sabotage a relationship to any.
So I think looking back it made me feel like maybe I just did not know how to love myself.
What I don't even know what love is because I growing up, my parents abandoned me, right?
29:39
And then I, it's just a very, it has a very strong impact on me.
And yeah, so I was just like, maybe I should figure out what love is, how to love myself, how to, to be loved.
29:57
So I started like, you know what I'm gonna do wedding planning.
Why not?
Oh my God.
Yeah, OK.
So I started like planning the happiest life of like happiest moment in people's life while being a full time engineer at Intel.
30:15
Wow, That is powerful.
OK.
Yeah.
So what kind of like made you make the decision?
Like the leap, the leap.
I'm gonna quit and then I'm gonna be a wedding planner now.
30:31
Yeah.
So I think same thing.
I think my childhood, I right now I'm trying to kind of do things.
I was things that were taken away from me as a child.
So one thing I was born pretty rich.
30:48
My father had a very, very successful business and he loved to spoil me.
He would buy anything I wanted to remember.
I said I want that looks so cute, I'll have it.
I have a room full of toys dolls, I I didn't appreciate them because I never had to work hard for that.
31:09
When I was 8 years old, my father gave me a karaoke set as a birthday kit birthday gift just to give you an idea how spoiled I was.
And he also bought me this dress that I really really, really loved.
It was like a very, almost like a custom made Princess gown, quite cut, quite fluffy.
31:29
I just felt so beautiful in that.
It just yeah, it was amazing.
The next day I woke up and I saw my mother was like not happy.
I was like, OK, what happened?
She was holding my dress, that white dress, and she started cutting.
31:50
I have no reason.
She started to cut the dress into pieces right in front of me.
It was it was it was really, really hard.
It was really, really hard.
And I just.
Violence.
Yeah, so it was.
I felt like that one that day, something changed in me.
32:09
I feel like I didn't deserve beautiful.
I didn't deserve to be loved.
I didn't deserve to be happy.
Something changed.
I stopped being happy at that moment.
I think when TEDx, that particular event make me feel that truly energized, feel alive.
32:31
I have not felt felt it for at least 20 years.
And I love that feeling.
And so when I was at Intel, when the pandemic happened, all this thing happened just made me feel like I worked so hard.
32:47
I got my PhD, I got a car, I got ATVI, can buy a grocery, everything.
I was miserable.
I was not happy.
I was, I didn't feel fulfilled.
I just like, yeah.
And then so I just kind of feel like I have worked so hard.
33:07
I'm still not happy.
Something's wrong.
And I spent about probably a year or two to keep looking for what is my calling.
I, I seek a lot of help.
I talked to many people.
I even talked to many psychics or get, you know, like all sort of thing.
33:24
I was really, really searching myself.
And I think that moment constantly brought me back to Ted SI was happy and I, I was just decided.
And then pandemic happened.
You know, it just tells you how precious life is.
33:40
So I was just like, you know, I have been living in survival mode for now.
I have a PHDI was making a six figure job, but I was not happy.
It should not be like that.
It should not be like that.
33:56
And I wanted to feel that pure joy.
And when I just did not have enough saving that financial comfort to do it.
And then in telling the announcement to lay off people like there is a voluntary separation program, I was the first one in my group in my company or in my group to, to like I'm quitting.
34:23
Yeah, I remember my manager wanted to meet with me multiple times and my VP wanted to meet with me.
But I'll just like, no, that's it.
And I wanted to take a leap to do what make me happy.
And I felt so happy.
34:40
That's great.
Yeah.
Wow.
I mean, they, they basically gave you a push and you're like, great, I'll take it.
Yes, yes, I love that.
I love that opportunity.
I know people, a lot of people have negative experience for the Intel's layoff.
To me, it was a gift.
If that didn't happen, I probably was still at Intel feeling miserable, in pain all the time.
35:01
But that little nudge, that little push opens me, opens up a different world for me, that makes me happy.
Yeah, I'm so glad.
I mean, importantly too, is that you actually took it, right.
35:16
It's like oftentimes opportunities present themselves, but whether or not someone actually goes for it and takes it, that's another story.
So I think it's like, you know, they, the elements work together and then that led to where you are today.
35:33
That's amazing.
Yes.
So maybe talk about a little, you know, since you've made that shift, how have you been?
It's been ups and downs, as any entrepreneurs will tell you.
35:50
I think I did not have a secure financial saving mainly because of my the path I took and my family.
That's a different story for another day.
So I didn't have that financial security.
So it was very scary.
36:06
And pretty much immediately, the moment I quit, like September 30th was my last day.
Immediately I started planning events, put organized events.
Yeah.
So I love the part that I have ideas.
I can just go for it because I have the skill set.
36:22
I know how to do it.
I can make it beautiful.
And I have a very, I would say I have a very unique vision.
If everybody's doing something, I'm not going to do that.
I want to do something that's different.
I want to do something that is meaningful.
So one of the things I did immediately was Women Who Dare.
36:42
That was on 8 on March 8 on International Women's Day to feature amazing women speakers who have broke barriers to become their authentic self and pave role for others.
I love that event.
I think a lot of audience love it because people who felt unseen and heard felt seen and heard and supported from that event and the event.
37:05
The energy is such as pure joy, positive.
It makes me feel like, wow, as an event planner, I can deliver events so powerful and change people's life in a way, you know, and.
37:22
And I'm doing a dog fashion show next month.
Yeah, so it was another thing is as like I feel like my my dogs are super spoiled.
I apparently a lot of other dogs are even more spoiled.
One of the dog models have two closet full of clothing.
37:40
Wow.
Yeah, but there are also dogs that did not even have a home.
They may have something to eat.
So I want to have use this opportunity to have fun, have like you know, but also get an opportunity to to tell the story of the other side just like human.
37:57
There is sometime we will need that awareness.
It's just and then part of like all the process will be all the profit, 100% of the profit will be donated to a dog shelter.
It's.
Awesome.
I feel so empowering and like I could do that.
38:13
I could do an event to make impact on anyone I want to and really bring community together, especially right now when the world is so much going on right.
Sometime we just need to focus on what we have instead of what we're gonna have yeah.
38:30
So that is always beautiful.
I love it.
I already have another idea what I wanna do for fall to yeah so so that's the UPS of that.
The downs is the struggle to you know, because producing events require a lot of money, a lot of network awareness.
38:49
Sometimes I will meet great people like you.
Like, even though I this is like some a lot, a lot of them are like that first event of the type you will want to support, but have people that say like, oh, this is your first event.
No, I'm not gonna do it.
I'm not gonna go because I'm not sure if it's gonna be successful.
39:07
You know, there are sometimes you a lot of hear a lot of negative people, a lot of voices.
I think that's, that can be hard and also like just trying to juggle having an income, having a balanced life, eat well, spend enough time with my dog.
39:24
I think that is always hard.
So there's a lot of ups and downs and I no longer have that safety net in terms of financial like I no longer have a stable income.
I no longer have a stable insurance, right.
39:40
So those are my mortgage continued to charge me the electricity.
So all this is just the reality is it can be very nerve wracking sometimes.
It can be.
And I think that's, I think maybe to wrap up our conversation today is to really, you know, as entrepreneurs, I, I mean, I feel you like I, there is a lot of things that we as people would love to do to create or to kind of like have positive impact on other people's lives.
40:11
And I think that's beautiful and I think I'm proud of it.
And you are proud of it at the same time, like.
Just being an entrepreneur doesn't really pay the bill.
It's like we have to be mindful about being part of these capitalistic society.
40:30
We don't want to grind to the ground.
At the same time, we do need to mindful about a lot of like realistic issues in our lives too.
Like for example, you know, food is going to get more expensive.
How are we going to deal with that?
40:47
So, so I think maybe to wrap up our conversation and I will ask for your contact information, if such at the end for people to learn more about your events and working with you.
But I want to ask you to share, you know, how do we see in times like these, especially now, many of us operate on the scarcity mindset.
41:10
How do you practice knowing there are a lot of challenges out there?
How do you practice abundance mindset in your own?
Way, yeah, I think different.
I think it's focused on the deep core, deep why, why you're doing certain things like for example, I always go back to why am I doing?
41:31
I'm being a full time entrepreneur because I want to make an impact.
I want to do things that really bring joy to me and make an impact.
I have the ability I can do that.
So I whenever I started to hear a lot of external noise, I'll always go back to that core or have friends who really remind you.
41:50
So that's the inner side.
The other side is also I want to maybe yeah, there's the yeah, the external world is going so much going on.
It's a lot of things we don't have control, but focus on what you have control on, right, right.
So for me, it's building small and community events to really reminds us like if we have that abundant mindset, if we want to support each other, we can create a micro economy within ourselves, right?
42:21
It might be the same dollar amount that is just changing hands, but everybody will feel good, feel supported and just be there and just focus on what we have, how we can support each other and have everybody do the same.
Focus on the community, start small.
42:38
I think if we focus on that, we'll still be joyful.
Just like you know, now we talk about dog fashion show.
I'm not talking, I'm don't think about what happened outside.
I'm focusing on my dog.
All the dark things.
If you just bring that pure joy, you just want to help people, you just want to help dogs.
42:56
It's just bring that joys and then abundance will come.
You just focus.
Focus on the positive, it will come.
I mean, I really appreciate that.
I mean.
Look at me like my whole life is like, is pretty much designed to fail, designed for me to be in.
It's impossible for people to believe I can get to where I am today.
43:15
Just like in this world, it's impossible to think about the positive, the way out.
I focus on the good and look at me, I'm here.
Yeah, there's a lot of awesome down.
It's just.
But I think I'm doing pretty good.
You're doing great.
43:31
And I honest think I think a lot of things that were designed to bring you down, I think they only make you just more, I don't want to say stronger, but maybe it strengthens you.
43:47
Yeah, it strengthens you and it makes you more impactful in the things you do.
So I really appreciate that.
And of course, we have abundance mindset events coming up too.
44:03
So.
So I think this is a really good place for you to share your contact information.
Where do people find you and work with you and especially, you know, people who want to have the perfect wedding?
Yeah, I know I'll be the person that helped you.
44:18
Yes, You can find me on my website at eventplannershi.com she spells with aisoeventplannershe.com or my Instagram at eventplanner sheet.
That's great.
44:35
Thank you so much for your time today.
And a lot of it I didn't know before, and I've learned a lot from you.
And I know we're going to see each other soon and talk to each other.
And so I look forward to it.
Yes, and I'm excited to work with you for the abundance mindset in leadership on May 8th.
44:54
Yes.
Yes, exactly.
And I'm sure more to come as well.
Yes, thank you.
Thank you so much.