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.

Sunday, August 19, 2018

I'm On My Own... Sunday, August 19

Despite what people may think, I don't exactly have the support of my family regarding me living in the Philippines and running my own business.  They didn't want me living in Korea for so long and now they don't like me living here.  I know that when I left Korea, they really thought they "had me back", but then I left again. 

I called my dad tonight, to wish him a happy anniversary, and it turned into him asking me to move back to Canada.  I have absolutely no interest in moving back to Canada except to be an Auntie to my nieces, a daughter to my dad, and a friend to my close friends.  I don't see a future for me in that country in terms of pursuing my dreams and building my brand.  I'm a foreigner here and I think I prefer it that way.  I think I like being the so-called "odd ball) and I find life is safer and more interesting for me here.  When I hear about shootings on the weekly in Toronto and how a random car drove down the sidewalk and killed people where I used to live during university, I feel uncomfortable to think about how the city I once loved and once called home now gives me a bit of the creeps. 

My dad's argument about wanting me to move back home is all about family and he questions why I don't want to be around it.  In between Korea and the Philippines though, I was back in Canada and I very rarely saw family because it was always me commuting way out of my way to see them.  They lived in the sticks and I lived in the city or they were too busy doing this or that.  I get it.  I lived out of the country for well over a decade now.  Cousins have started their own families and life continued when I was gone.  Things I used to do with them were filled in with other people or were passed up.  I'm not offended.  The same happened with my life too.  

I called my dad also to tell him that I'm not visiting for Christmas.  I knew telling him would only reinforce his dislike with me living here and starting my next business so I kept it out of the conversation.  I don't come from a family of entrepreneurs.  My parents had very safe jobs as did my oldest brother.  My middle brother and I were the exception to the family genes of playing it safe.  He got up and suddenly moved to New York after college, to follow his passion of photography, and after university I left everything and everyone, including an ex-fiance, and moved to Korea to follow my passion of learning a new culture.  We both haven't moved back to Canada since.  

How long do I plan on living in the Philippines?  Till death do us part, that's the truth.

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