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.

Monday, February 05, 2018

Envisioning Empowered... Monday, February 5

Today I felt that rush of excitement come over me just like I did back when I saw what later became the location of Hulk's.  It was amazing.  In my original plans for Empowered I had wanted to make a loft, a mezzanine as they call it here.  But when I decided to take it down a few notches -- make the club smaller to start and then build upon as it grew up, I ditched the idea and hopes of a mezzanine because it was just too expensive.  I also ditched it because a lot of these smaller spaces were pricy enough, getting a smaller location with a higher ceiling was hard and expensive.  It simply didn't fit my budget.

Slowly but surely I'm building my crew for Empowered and today I took one architect/designer to come see two spaces that I'm leaning towards.  One is a rectangular space that has a floor that drops down about 2 feet at one end.  It's got a wicked drive-up that'd be perfect for all my ladies who Uber it to Empowered or those who get their drivers to drop them off.  The second space is one that is more square.  It has a front walkway that's elevated and that looks out onto what will later become an outdoor food market.  It's 25sqm smaller than the first (165sqm) but it has a high ceiling.  I ditched the hope of a mezzanine a while back and haven't thought of it since but today the interior designer asked me if I was interested in making one.  Instantly my eyes lite up and my brain started running a mile a minute.  

Could I really make a mezzanine?!

Yup, it's true.

And just like that it's almost as if the floor plan started unfolding itself before me.  I turned to my right and could see the boxing ring.  Some girls sitting ringside, chatting.  Then I looked up; I could see some others sitting in the Fuel Lounge, up in the mezzanine.  They were eating and watching the girls in the ring.  It was all so clear to me, all so real.  I got lost a bit in that moment, looking around the clubhouse and seeing it all.  It felt so real I could almost swear I heard the round bell ring.  

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