[00:01] Valerie Beck: Rise. Renew. Reconnect.
[00:04] Welcome to from the Ashes, a podcast where every episode ignites hope and healing.
[00:09] I'm your host, Valerie Huang Beck, and I'm on a mission to help you embrace your unique potential and become the vibrant visionary you knew you were meant to be.
[00:17] Kiki: Shed the fire in the darkest night of Phoenix burst It's ready for flight Shadows may come try to tear you apart but you're the flame.
[00:29] Valerie Beck: Hi, everyone. This is Valerie here and I have my new friend Kiki here and we are all the way in Amsterdam.
[00:36] Kiki: Yes, we are in Amsterdam.
[00:38] Valerie Beck: Yeah. And she is my new friend, new BFF maybe.
[00:43] Kiki: Yay.
[00:44] Valerie Beck: And she actually has an incredible story.
[00:47] So today I want you to introduce yourself and also tell my audience you're from the Ashes story,
[00:55] the story of when you've really had to reinvent yourself and really question your life and what to do. So I'll let you start.
[01:04] Kiki: Okay.
[01:05] Thank you, Valerie. Yeah, yeah. It's really nice to be able to meet you in person. I've heard about you in Japan and I'm so happy that we're here in Amsterdam together.
[01:16] And I'm Kiki.
[01:17] Nice to meet you. I'm from Japan.
[01:20] I am Ikigai coach.
[01:22] Yes.
[01:23] And I have been in corporate job in Japan for over 10 years now. I am a digital nomad and a coaching. It's my dream come true to be able to have location and time independency and being able to have my own business, be my own boss.
[01:43] So I have this whole freedom.
[01:46] But to come to that point,
[01:49] I do call myself Phoenix rising from the ashes because two years ago I almost died.
[01:57] I almost lost my life through a snowboarding accident.
[02:04] Yeah, I was a big snowboarder. I was. Yeah. Snowboarding is my passion. So I really wanted to work on ski slopes.
[02:15] So I was working with Beijing, the team Japan Alpine Ski Team.
[02:22] And I was team one of the team staffs. So I was going to international competitions with the alpine ski team.
[02:31] But there was this one day that I was on ski slope in Japan, Nagano prefecture. I was just sliding on a very like beginner's piste and I slipped from the edge,
[02:48] the little cliff.
[02:50] And I don't remember from there, but there was a video. So I hit my face with a tree and broken my entire skull.
[03:02] So I have a lot of pictures and videos on my Instagram and I can give it to you.
[03:10] So my nose,
[03:11] my forehead, my cheeks, jaw,
[03:15] both of my eye sockets, everything was broken and my brain was bleeding.
[03:22] So I had to go into 14 hours of surgery.
[03:26] And that was very painful.
[03:29] So after,
[03:31] after the surgery,
[03:34] I woke up and what I felt was,
[03:36] can someone kill me? Because although the surgery was. Was a success,
[03:42] I was suffering from the pain and I couldn't breathe because my nose was broken and my. My jaw was broken as well. So the doctor did all the surgery everywhere.
[03:55] So just lying on bed felt like drowning in the ocean.
[04:00] So I felt like,
[04:02] please kill me. This is too much pain.
[04:07] So I was going through that plus my ugly face from the surgery.
[04:14] So I promised to myself that I will be better version of myself compared to before the accident.
[04:24] And before the accident, I was doing beauty pageant. I became. Yeah, I became a delegate of Japan to compete in international beauty pageant. And I was starting my career as like a fitness model and becoming like,
[04:41] oh, I might like becoming like an influencer. And I'm starting to feel like, oh, I'm becoming like starting my career, like model, like career. And I was kind of like,
[04:53] yeah, I was happy.
[04:54] Valerie Beck: Yeah.
[04:55] Kiki: And then this crash happened.
[04:59] But I didn't want to just stay in the victim role.
[05:02] I wanted to be the better version of myself because I wanted to feel that this accident was something good that happened for me.
[05:12] And I thought that if I do my best, if I work hard,
[05:19] I can make it happen. To feel that I feel thankful for this accident.
[05:27] Valerie Beck: So how did you go from I, I want to die or like, see please someone kill me to like making that decision.
[05:35] Kiki: So I. I think after three days, after the surgery, it was just so painful and so much suffering. And if I. If someone asks me, if. If someone asked me at that time, what am I doing every day, I will just answer, oh, I'm surviving.
[05:52] I'm living.
[05:54] Because that was the best I could do. Just live.
[05:58] And through that so much suffering, I started to feel.
[06:02] I don't want to look back and feel like nothing happened because there's this happening.
[06:09] And to like, commemorate. Is this a word? Like, to commemorate for this suffering Kiki. I wanted to do something for this suffering Kiki. I didn't want to feel sorry for this suffering Kiki.
[06:26] I wanted to feel proud of this suffering Kiki.
[06:29] And I wanted to feel that thanks to this experience,
[06:33] thanks to this suffering Kiki, I am now this.
[06:38] So I started to visualize and started to. I started to set intention that I will become better version of myself inside and out,
[06:52] even compared to before the accident.
[06:54] Valerie Beck: Yeah.
[06:56] Yeah. That's a really incredible story. And it must have been really, really painful and tough.
[07:03] So I want to ask,
[07:06] like, what was your Process. And how did you look at life differently starting from that point?
[07:13] Kiki: What was the process of healing?
[07:16] Oh, the healing process was very long actually.
[07:20] I wanted to get out of the hospital as soon as possible, but so I did. I tried my best to get out of the hospital to recover.
[07:30] And even, yeah, even after I got out of the hospital,
[07:36] my face was still, still very numb. Actually it still hurts. I, I have iron plates, like 12 iron plates and 50 something iron screws buried inside my face. And my fail,
[07:51] my face still hurts 24 7. So even now it hurts.
[07:55] But it's a nerves pain.
[07:57] Valerie Beck: Yeah.
[07:57] Kiki: So even if I take painkiller, it doesn't go away. Okay. Yeah. So yeah, it's very, it's. I'm still with the accident.
[08:07] Valerie Beck: Yeah.
[08:08] Kiki: Yeah.
[08:09] But the healing process was very long.
[08:12] Even after I got out of the hospital,
[08:14] I couldn't like open my mouth. I could, I couldn't even fit my pinky finger in my mouth.
[08:21] So I had to rehabilitate my jaw.
[08:26] Yeah, it was.
[08:27] And now I can open my mouth and smile. And this is very. Yeah, I'm very happy that I can smile again.
[08:37] And it's still, I still find my face recovering.
[08:42] It's still changing every month.
[08:46] I still see the change,
[08:47] which is good.
[08:49] Yeah.
[08:50] Valerie Beck: So if you've ever seen Kiki on Instagram, she's vitamin Kiki and it's kind of like your daily dose of vitamins.
[08:56] Kiki: Right.
[08:57] Valerie Beck: Is your theme. And she is very, very positive. So every time I see you, you're like doing, you know, workout or you're showing your life or like what food you eat and also always smiling.
[09:10] How do you maintain that positivity?
[09:12] Kiki: Thank you. How do I maintain that positivity?
[09:15] Well, fitness is a big part of it.
[09:18] I have been doing fitness everyday challenge and today is like 1,300 something days. I, I don't even remember because the number is not the important part. The important part is that I show up to myself every day, every single day to the rest of my life.
[09:38] So not hitting a certain amount of days is not my goal.
[09:43] My goal is to stay healthy mentally and physically throughout all my like, throughout my life.
[09:52] So doing fitness helps me a lot to stay positive and happy. Because I do it more,
[09:59] of course I do it for my body, but it's more for my mind,
[10:03] for my mental health.
[10:05] And it's so hard to feel super depressed and super sad while you're running or while you are doing squat.
[10:17] And it's just so fast and very healthy and it doesn't cost Any money.
[10:25] It's very quick.
[10:27] Just you can. Yeah, you can be positive instantly.
[10:31] So when someone asks how do you. How do I. What do I do if I feel depressed? I. I always say,
[10:39] yeah, like do some sort of exercise.
[10:42] Yeah, that will definitely.
[10:44] Maybe it doesn't cure, but it will definitely put a hole to. For your breakthrough.
[10:51] Yeah, you will find somewhat way or some light for your breakthrough.
[10:57] Valerie Beck: Yeah, I agree.
[10:59] And anytime I go to the gym or workout or dance or anything like that, I feel so uplifted.
[11:06] So I definitely see how that can keep you positive.
[11:10] So the next thing I want to ask you is about ikigai and you've become a coach,
[11:15] digital nomad. And you're ikigai coach. So ikigai means like kind of like a life purpose, right. In some, in like yoga language, dharma is also sometimes used.
[11:25] So how did you find your ikigai and then how did you decide to become coach?
[11:33] Kiki: So I feel that coaching is ikigai for me now.
[11:39] And I found that through actually meeting a lot of international nomads.
[11:47] After I became a digital nomad, which is one and a half years ago, I started traveling and I went to just this first year, I went to 40 countries and I met so many interesting digital nomads.
[12:03] And the people that I got inspired were often coaches. And coaching is not super popular thing in Japan yet.
[12:15] And then I started to feel like, oh, I want to be one of these people who are very grounded, who are very inspiring and also making good amount of money.
[12:25] So, yeah, that's how I became a coach.
[12:28] Valerie Beck: Did you leave your corporate job to become a coach?
[12:31] Kiki: I didn't leave my corporate job to become a coach, but I lift my corporate job to become. To become location and time independent.
[12:43] Valerie Beck: Okay.
[12:44] Kiki: Yeah. Okay. Amazing.
[12:45] Valerie Beck: So it kind of all happened around the same time.
[12:47] Kiki: Yeah. Yes. Within two years. Okay. Yeah.
[12:51] Valerie Beck: That's amazing. And how did you start to get, you know, people, did they come to you and ask you for help? Like, how did you start that process?
[12:59] Kiki: Which process?
[13:00] Valerie Beck: The coaching.
[13:00] Kiki: Oh, the coaching process.
[13:03] So I had been building my social media,
[13:07] my Instagram since I started becoming freelancing freelancer.
[13:11] But I, without a purpose,
[13:14] I started building my personal brand because I had a lot of influencer friends in Tokyo and I wanted to become influencer as well.
[13:24] And so without any specific purpose. But when I launched my coaching on my Instagram,
[13:32] surprisingly there were a lot of people that were interested in taking my coaching.
[13:38] And there then I found out, oh, I have been building my true fans, which was a very, very Happy surprise.
[13:47] Valerie Beck: Yeah, I know the one. There's a concept called 1000 True Fans.
[13:51] Kiki: Oh, yes.
[13:52] Valerie Beck: Yeah, right.
[13:53] Kiki: Yes, I've read that book. Yes.
[13:55] Valerie Beck: So, yeah, so that's amazing too, that, you know, you were able to already have that fan base.
[14:00] Kiki: Yeah.
[14:01] Valerie Beck: When you started your coaching, is that.
[14:02] Kiki: The company of one or. I think it's.
[14:06] Valerie Beck: I don't quite remember.
[14:08] Kiki: Yeah, yeah, yeah.
[14:09] Valerie Beck: Because there have been some other people who've also talked about it. I heard about it through, like, Tim Ferriss.
[14:15] Okay, so I know that you serve mostly Japanese women.
[14:19] Kiki: Right.
[14:22] Valerie Beck: Why did you choose to work with them? And what is like one big challenge that you see?
[14:29] Kiki: So I chose. I didn't really choose to work with them because I had been building my brand based on Japanese language.
[14:40] Most of my social media followers are Japanese, so it just naturally was. I was just naturally targeting Japanese women. Yeah.
[14:51] And the challenges are that I want to expand to international market now.
[14:58] But, yeah, I,
[15:00] I'm just in the phase of how to start,
[15:03] what is the best way,
[15:04] how do I create the content,
[15:07] how do I create the course, that kind of challenge.
[15:11] Valerie Beck: Okay, I'm going to ask a little deeper of a question because I used to work in Japanese school schools,
[15:16] elementary and junior high school,
[15:19] and actually there was never any talk of ikigai, but there was always like.
[15:24] Kiki: Right.
[15:25] Valerie Beck: Like, what is your future dream?
[15:27] And,
[15:28] but not really, like a sense of purpose. So a lot of kids that I, you know, especially girls, it's like, oh, I want to be a pastry chef or I want to be a beautician or whatnot.
[15:39] And it's kind of like the answer that everybody gives.
[15:42] Kiki: So.
[15:42] Valerie Beck: So what are some things that you see when. When you're working with. With people on their ikigai? Like,
[15:49] are they aware of what their ikigai is when they come to you?
[15:52] Kiki: Or.
[15:52] Valerie Beck: Okay, how do you work with them to find that?
[15:54] Kiki: Yeah, so I work with them to find.
[15:58] First to find authent, like, how to be authentic to their feelings.
[16:04] Because in Japan,
[16:06] we were told,
[16:08] educated in a way that we should not stand out, we should not be different,
[16:14] have different opinions from other people,
[16:17] and we should not be unique.
[16:20] So it's so hard for us to say, oh, this is what I want. This is what I want to be.
[16:27] This is how I want to be. Or, like, it's so difficult for us Japanese. Yeah, yeah. And. But I think I feel like that's exactly why I need to.
[16:40] That's.
[16:41] It's important for me to guide them to be authentic to themselves because they don't know how to find the authenticity within themselves.
[16:53] Valerie Beck: Yeah.
[16:54] So can you give me a few examples of some women who came to you and they weren't sure and what did they find that they wanted or what was their ikigai when they finally were able to see it?
[17:07] Kiki: So well,
[17:09] they,
[17:10] in a way because I am already showing my lifestyle, not my nomadic free lifestyle. A lot of people come to me that they want to be location and time independent.
[17:23] So they kind of already have this, this mindset that that's the direction that they want to go towards too.
[17:31] And so it's kind of the,
[17:35] yeah, that's kind of their ikigai that they want to live free and happy and be authentic to themselves.
[17:44] I help them through,
[17:47] well, self branding and one on one coaching and group coaching.
[17:52] Valerie Beck: Yeah, like what, you know, what do you find that people wake up to after doing the coaching? You know,
[17:59] because I'll give you an example for mine because I also kind of work on the same thing like ikea, helping people find their purpose.
[18:06] Some people are a little bit more clear than others. But like for I have a client who,
[18:11] she's still kind of working on it but the first year she like revolutionized her fitness and now she's able to, she's. She got over that obstacle and so now it's like, oh, I, I really want to inspire people and I have this new desire to like make more friends or something,
[18:31] you know, and she's, it's still not a hundred percent clear but like she's getting there.
[18:35] Kiki: So.
[18:35] Valerie Beck: Yeah. What are some realizations maybe people have like oh, I want to do this or.
[18:39] Kiki: Yeah, well, yeah, so realizations that my clients had is that most of them, they would leave the corporate job,
[18:48] which is scary, right? Yeah, it is scary.
[18:51] And to,
[18:52] to do something that they always wanted to do or they weren't sure but they wanted to do like being a personal trainer and being an international speaker.
[19:07] So they started from studying English.
[19:11] Yeah. Because to be an international speaker and author he needs to be able to speak English. So he was, he started to go into deep English learning process and yeah.
[19:26] So a lot of them would leave safe environment and step into the new unknown phase.
[19:37] Valerie Beck: Yeah.
[19:37] Kiki: So I do a little push and a little guidance that okay, we'll be fine. Yeah. Yeah.
[19:44] Valerie Beck: And how was it for you, was it scary for you to leave corporate when you did to quit?
[19:50] Kiki: Yeah, surprisingly not. Like, because.
[19:53] Yeah, like even now I feel the same way. But if it doesn't work out, I can always go back to corporate world and what Is so,
[20:03] like nothing is so.
[20:05] Yeah, I did. I never really felt scary scared. Yeah,
[20:09] yeah.
[20:09] Valerie Beck: Which is actually kind of rare, to be honest, because most people that I know who have stable jobs in Japan struggle to even think about quitting.
[20:19] Kiki: Yeah. Yeah, yeah. It's really cool that, you know a lot of Japanese culture and people's mindset. Yeah. I've talked.
[20:27] Valerie Beck: I have a lot of Japanese friends, and so I know their struggle.
[20:30] Yeah. So it's really cool that you've. You have kind of this big picture insight and also like a lot of courage, which I think comes from,
[20:38] you know, dealing with what you had to deal with.
[20:40] Kiki: True, true. Yeah.
[20:43] Valerie Beck: Yeah.
[20:44] So now that you are, you know, you have this coaching business and you're a location independent, what's like your next big goal or challenge that you want to accomplish?
[20:53] Kiki: Oh, yeah.
[20:54] My next goal is to publish a book and launch online course for Japanese to begin with and launch online course for international people and start a community for Japanese and international people.
[21:11] This community is for forever who want to be having a nomadic lifestyle.
[21:18] And it doesn't. I don't limit to only Japanese, but I want to have diverse people inside a community.
[21:28] But maybe people who are more interested in Japan so that we can host events in Japan and international people can interact with local Japanese and Japanese people who are often kind of scared to get outside of the Japanese bubble, can stay in the bubble, but interact with international people.
[21:50] Yeah.
[21:51] Valerie Beck: And also we may be collaborating on some of this retreats in the future and other activities.
[21:57] Kiki: So stay tuned.
[21:59] Valerie Beck: And also shout out to the Nomad Escape.
[22:01] Kiki: Oh, yes.
[22:02] Valerie Beck: So actually the way that Kiki and I are linked is because pretty much kind of through the Nomad Escape. And shout out to Michelle. Yeah, thank you, Michelle.
[22:14] But we were both in Japan in May,
[22:17] basically for a retreat. We were on the same retreat, but I heard about Kiki through.
[22:23] Kiki: Through everybody who.
[22:24] Valerie Beck: Who was on the retreat before. So, and I was just really curious. And then I'm really grateful that I got to meet you.
[22:30] Kiki: Yeah.
[22:31] Valerie Beck: Here in Amsterdam.
[22:32] Kiki: Yeah.
[22:32] Valerie Beck: All places.
[22:33] Kiki: Yes.
[22:34] Valerie Beck: So that's been super cool. Yeah. So I'm super excited for what the future holds and like, thank you for.
[22:40] Kiki: Sharing your story today. Thank you. Thank you for having me, Mallory. Yay.
[22:44] Valerie Beck: Okay,
[22:49] thanks for tuning in to from the Ashes. If this episode sparks something in you, I want you to know your evolution matters and we're rooting for you all the way for coaching, community and resources to help you rise into your full potential.
[23:01] Visit intrepidwellness Life and check out what we have to offer.
[23:05] If you love the episode, please leave a comment, share it with a friend, or tag me on Instagram at intrepidwellness, Val,
[23:13] because I'd love to hear what resonated for you.
[23:16] Until next time, keep rising.
