I wasn’t supposed to end up here. Not in Cambodia. Not leading a coaching institute. Not guiding people through deep change and purpose.
Six and a half years ago, I was working in financial services in London - first in consulting, then in HR. On paper, it was a good life. A stable career. A well-worn path.
But something happened that forced me to stop and ask:
Is this it?
Even if I became wildly successful… would it be enough? The answer was no.
It wasn’t that anything was wrong - it just wasn’t right. I couldn’t unfeel that truth.
So I started asking better questions.
What kind of life would actually feel worth living?
What would I be doing if I stopped performing and started aligning?
Eventually, I found coaching. Or maybe coaching found me.
I didn’t have to force it. It felt like home. It brought together my strengths, my way of seeing people, and the questions I’d been holding since I was young - about meaning, about what it means to live well, to live fully.
Why Cambodia?
When I first arrived in Cambodia, coaching barely existed. There were a handful of us practicing professionally. It was a blank slate.
But what drew me in wasn’t the gap - it was the depth.
This is a country still healing from genocide. The trauma is real. But so is the beauty that’s growing from it.
At the same time, Cambodia is changing fast. There’s rapid economic development, creative energy, a young population. And in that tension - between deep history and accelerating growth - I saw a unique opportunity:
To shape how this nation grows.
As a Korean, I’ve seen what happens when a country experiences rapid progress without emotional healing. Yes, Korea rebuilt. Yes, it thrived economically. But under the surface? So many unspoken wounds. So much disconnection. The trauma never left. It just got buried under success.
Cambodia has the chance to do it differently. To grow with consciousness. To center healing, purpose, and wholeness - not just output. And I believe coaching has a vital role to play in that.
How It Started
In 2020, at the start of the pandemic, I found myself saying something out loud for the first time: “I want to train the first generation of Cambodian coaches.”
At the time, it was just a wild idea. I didn’t have a plan. I figured - maybe in a year or two, I’d start working on it.
But then someone found me. She said:
“You said you want to train Cambodian coaches. I want to be one. Train me.”
I told her, “If you can find five others, I’ll create a curriculum.”
Within a month, she found them.
And that’s how Cambodia Coaching Institute was born, not from a business plan, but from a conversation that called something into being.
The first pilot was short, simple, imperfect, but real.
After that, I took time to deepen my own presence, refine the curriculum, and ask:
What kind of coaches does Cambodia actually need? What kind of training prepares people to hold trauma, lead healing, and support real growth?
Where We Are Now
Two years later, we’ve trained a group of 15 people in a five-module journey - over 100 hours of live training, plus 100 hours of practice. Afterwards, they’ll be eligible to apply for their ICF coaching credential.
Right now, there are only four ICF-credentialed coaches in Cambodia. None of them are Khmer. By the end of this year or early next, we aim to have 20 - and more than half will be Khmer.
That’s the dream. Not just to certify coaches - but to change the emotional infrastructure of the country.
The Invitation
CCI isn’t just a training program. It’s a vision.
A vision for a Cambodia that grows without losing itself.
A vision for healing that’s practical, embodied, and systemic.
A vision that needs more hands and hearts to make it real.
So if you feel called to become a coach - reach out.
If you believe in what we’re building - partner with us.
We’re still small. We’re still young.
But we’re here for the long game.
And we’re not doing it alone.