Bridging Collective Care & Global Stories

Community and giving back have always been foundational themes of my life. My family and I came to the United States from Cambodia in 2002 through the Department of State’s Diversity Visa Lottery Program. Not only were we incredibly lucky to win that chance, we were also uplifted by generous sponsors who supported and guided us through the tedious, overwhelming paperwork the comes with migrating to a new country.

Years later, when we returned to Cambodia to visit, I watched my parents' friends take time off work just to be with us. They lent us their cars, opened their homes for us, and insisted on paying for every meal.

That is community, I realized.

The Way We Move Through the World MatterS

Since I was young, I have always wanted to make a positive impact wherever I was—that meant serving in student government, volunteering to clean the classroom, guiding classmates to their bus seats, or participating in talent shows.

As an adult, I have been drawn to work rooted in people and social impact. After university, I spent years working in the international development, human rights, and program management spaces, including the National Geographic Society, Social Impact, and Amnesty International. Today, I bring that same devotion to my local community, serving on the Board of Directors for Historic Manassas to help revitalize and promote the city I call home.

Whether advocating for global human rights or managing projects, I found myself constantly returning to the same core questions: How do we care for one another in ways that honor dignity, humanity, and deep connection? How can I make a positive impact in this world? How can we protect our planet?

The Awakening of a Living Practice

Through it all, yoga quietly became its own teacher.

Yoga was a constant presence in my life long before I ever had a formal name for it. It lived in my innate desire to give back, and in the daily effort to balance personal growth with radical contentment. Yoga taught me to pause before reacting, to return to my breath and body when deregulated, and to bring deep intentionality to how I treat myself and the environments I encounter. It reminded me that awareness is a practice we must return to again and again, within ourselves, our relationships, and our communities.

Self to Service Collective was born from that exact realization.

Through yoga, sound baths, local partnerships, community service, and immersive retreats, I facilitate the natural bridge from Self to Service.

Mirroring the interconnected anatomy of a tree, this work honors every layer of a living practice: grounding our roots in foundational wisdom, stabilizing our trunk through nervous system regulation, and branching out through immersive retreats, all while dropping our leaves back into the collective soil through community care. These paths feed one another in a cycle. Whether you begin by tending inward, or by stepping straight into community service to find your belonging, every layer expands your capacity to live with greater presence, resilience, and lasting intention.

Tending Inward, Extending Outward

I don't believe that caring for ourselves and caring for others exist in competition, or that one must always come before the other. Each nourishes the other. Sometimes, tending inward gives us the steady internal landscape we need to extend outward. Other times, participating in community, offering selfless service (Karma Yoga), and contributing to something beyond ourselves remind us that we, too, belong and are worthy of care.

When we create space for both self-compassion and collective care, we expand our capacity to live with greater presence, resilience, and lasting intention. Because the way we move through the world matters.