Get to Know Us!

Coach Mai.. Who are you?

Hi, my name is Mai and I’m from Minnesota.  I’m a savvy multiventure Mompreneur who found her passion in helping others.  At the young age of 13, I became intrigued with business and started attending business seminars with some of my trusted mentors.  I became knowledgeable in life insurance, financial planning, real estate investing, the restaurant business, entertainment industry, many pyramid schemes, fundraising, and marketing for businesses and events. Aside from my vast knowledge of business industries, I also studied many mindset, manifestation and personal development theories.  I think of myself to be very fortunate to meet the right people whom supported me and set me on the right path to acquire all this incredible knowledge and skills before turning 18. 

A decade ago I discovered my Shaman capabilities.  I started to indulge in my Shaman gifts more deeply after I left my cultural marriage and freed myself from the domestic abuse.  As a single Mom it was a constant struggle to balance all areas of life.  I discovered a new love that started as a therapeutic side hustle, and became a home based florist specialized in weddings and funerals.  And to satisfy my servant’s heart, I hopped on to many volunteer opportunities in the community. It made me feel extremely amazing to help others and my energy was more balanced with my spiritual beliefs. I became an ambassador for Hmong Women Today hosting workshops and women’s circles for our Hmong sisters.  I hopped back into the entertainment industry with our family band, PuavPheej Band, and performed for many events, bringing the party to many families in our community.  With my love for arts and young talents, I would MC for the annual Hmong New Year on the general stage just so I can cheer on the amazing young souls who came out to share their talents.

 Sadly, when I became the general stage manager for our 40th Annual Hmong New Year event, I was hospitalized and scheduled for an emergency major brain surgery.  My life has been very lively for the most part, so this setback was extremely traumatizing.  My whole world came to a halt.  I was also in the middle of negotiating a leasing space for the home of my “real” flower shop.  My home was burglarized two days prior.  And.. it was Thanksgiving weekend.  I was left with the only option to believe in fate, and hope that the Universe knows what it’s doing. It always does.  In the midst of all of this, I still had hope and stayed positive.  Smiling from ear to ear as I strolled into my operation room.  I considered this the Universe’s way of telling me to take that break.

Within 10 months from recovering from my crazy brain surgery, I received my shop keys to my flower shop!  Even after not knowing if and how I would be recovering, it didn’t stop me from trying to get that lease signed.  Landing on this next stepping stone gave me so much excitement and pride, that I had no hesitation sponsoring and supporting other businesses and events, projects, nonprofits, and etc.  As an extremely innovative individual, I felt like I should do more for my community when I opened my shop.  I started to host free Wednesday Workshops for my local community and invited my professional friends and colleagues to lead them.  I often thought about my life as a child of divorcees and a divorcee myself.  I have this soft spot in my heart for kids from broken homes, children of neglect, and foster kids.  I always wished I could do more. I came up with a ton of ideas of how I can support them but had no idea on how to roll them out.

Well, shortly after I opened my shop, I lost my biological Mom and all my siblings moved in to stay with me, except one that lived on his own.  I became the designated guardian for my 13 year old brother. (Same age as me when I started attending business seminars.)  I discovered that this kid was so sheltered by my Mom that he scored two grades below his grade level because my Mom allowed him a pass on his homework when he didn’t feel like completing them.  Therefore, he scored lower because he didn’t learn the content he was tested on.  At first, I thought it was a developmental issue, but then I realized how bright this kid was!  He's definitely an A-student.  I believed him to be one and I refused to feel otherwise.  He was going through a lot of grief and had a difficult time in school, but I worked closely with the school and had a plan in place to support him.  Unfortunately, it became too difficult on my own, as I have my own two kids and the other siblings were not knowledgeable enough to help me parent this teenager.  I made the tough decision to close my shop and move out to California to be alongside family members from my Father’s side of the family.  I needed the support of a village to help me raise this kid.  Moving him to this new environment allowed him to get a different perspective of life.  It wasn’t long before he started building friendships with others, trying new hobbies with the cousins, and trying new food.  This child turned over a huge leaf when we made this move.  He still had a lot of healing to go through, and didn’t understand why our Father couldn’t take him in.  He was stuck with me and he would prefer to be with his parent.  Overall, I would never regret my decision to pack up my life and move out for that 1.5 years that we were there because of the impact I saw happening to him.  That was enough for me.  Even though he wasn’t fond of me and may not get it til later on in his life, I am so glad I made that tough move.  He prefers me as a sister, and not a parenting role.  I also had a boyfriend that taught me a few lessons while I was there too.  Again, I don’t regret any of my choices here.  I learned to love a group of kids that I didn’t birth, and I became an expert at type I diabetes because his daughter was diagnosed while we were still together. 

I’ve been through some impactful and amazing journeys in my life here on Earth.  All these unforgettable moments in my life has structured me to continue to be more kind, caring and giving.  Throughout these tough years that I’ve undergo many hardships, I was able to stay resilient.  I owe it all through setting myself up for success as a teenager.  Building my mindset and indulging in all the opportunities for growth and development that I could get access to.  After I divorced, I also dragged my two kids with me to many seminars and business events, as well.  With what I hear of the leadership my children bring to others when they are away from me, has left me speechless.  Their marketing and sales skills during Girl Scout cookie season was top notch!   I knew that I couldn’t control how they will learn, think or act.  I just hoped that surrounding them with the right people and the right conversations will be enough of an impact to how they make decisions for themselves in the far future.  They have proven to me that it works. Feed these kids some bomb knowledge and skills and they will subconsciously know how to get on the right path. 

When I was given an opportunity to partner up with Supporting Arms nonprofit with some projects for their youth program and to support their partnership with foster care agencies, I had no hesitation whatsoever to hop on board.  Knowing how much support I can provide their organization and the fact that I can officially roll out all my long awaited ideas for the youth, made me mentally scream with excitement.  And then, I thought of how there are many others who have not had the opportunity to heal from their childhood traumas and are now suffering as adults.  I also thought of how I have been in my spiritual journey for the past decade and have only been practicing and healing in private. I believe that now is the time for my spiritual gifts to be shared. Therefore, Leonard and I designed The Infinite Growth Project to support the growth and healing of adults, where the proceeds will go towards our future projects and programs for the youth of Supporting Arms.