As the story has it, one day I headed to the opposite side of the globe – the Flipside. I arrived in Korea February 16th, 2005 and thought I’d do a year, then leave. I was wrong. I stayed, launched my first company, Flipside Fitness, and then opened Korea's largest boxing club, Hulk's Boxing (now called Hulk's Club).

After 11.5yrs in Korea, I then picked up one day and returned to Toronto, Canada. But then I left again.

Now I live in the Philippines where I am the CEO and head coach of Empowered Clubhouse, the Philippines' first and only boxing clubhouse exclusively just for women. I also am the founder of the Lil' Sistas Project, CEO and designer of Slay Gear and Baa Baa Black Sheep .Ph.

Tuesday, June 23, 2015

A Bite-Sized Girl with a Huge Success Story... Tuesday, June 23

So I've got this bite-sized friend, a girl I went to high school with.  In high school she was this little ball of fire who was a bit of a bully to some and oozing with attitude to others but she was a girl who just didn't care for the acceptance of others.  Whether or not you agreed with her smoking, her thick eyeliner, or her tough attitude was really none of her concern and that's why I liked her.  I liked her not because I viewed her as this rebel or go-against-the-flow kind of girl but because she just didn't care what anyone thought of her and continued going about her own way.  She had a thick skin to her while the rest of our classmates and friends were struggling to keep up with the crowd and fit in.  She wasn't a particular good student either, she only really wanted to cruise by and graduate.

Today I met up with my bite-sized friend for breakfast.

The doorbell rang, I answered it, and there before stood my bite-sized friend still very bite-sized but sporting a very loud platinum blond mohawk, a black tank top and white jeans.  She looks more tough than what I remembered of her in high school and that was awesome.

Over breakfast I learnt just how much of a successful entrepreneur she's become.  Eleven years ago she opened up her own hair shop downtown Whitby, in the city we both grew up in, and has been running it ever since.  She has since employed other stylists, one of whom has worked with her for 8 years.  I may run the biggest boxing club in Korea but I am definitely not at the level of the game yet where I can employ but here she's done it and has been doing so for so long.  I was so impressed.  Correction, I was over the moon super proud of her and couldn't possibly brag more about her to my dad upon arriving back from breakfast.

If you had told me that my little bite-sized high school friend would turn into this amazingly successful business entrepreneur I would have questioned what kind of business you thought she would be getting in but I don't think many of us would have believed it, truthfully speaking.  I always knew though that she'd definitely be singing to her own tune and doing something so completely different than the rest of us.

I ended up actually returning to her hair salon in the afternoon and getting her to do my hair, I mean how could I not get her to do my hair.   Any woman with a platinum blond braided mohawk and shaved head is a woman who I want doing my hair, for sure!  It was great to see her in action too, doing my hair and doing what she does best.  Good for her for becoming the success story that she's made herself become.  She may still be bite-sized but she still sports that tough girl attitude that's loud and proud, and I couldn't be prouder of her.  So far she is definitely the highlight of this trip.

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