Build a stronger foundation for the life you want to live.
I didn’t always think of myself as fit or athletic. Until my mid-20s, I rarely played sports, spent long days in front of screens, and worked 80-hour weeks building startups. I could keep pushing—but I wasn’t necessarily taking care of the person doing the pushing.
Around this time, I also competed in beauty pageants, where I was encouraged to lose weight by restricting how much I ate. At 5'5.5", I reached 105 pounds. I looked thinner, but I didn’t feel closer to the life I wanted.
In 2016, after being thrown from my bicycle and seriously injuring my chin, I remember worrying more about whether I could still appear as a public figure than about the injury itself. It made me realize how much of my attention had become focused on how I looked—and how much else in life I was missing.
Then I noticed something else — I struggled to lift my luggage into an overhead compartment and found myself out of breath on hikes. I wanted to travel, climb, explore, and say yes to more adventures. I realized my body wasn’t something I needed to shrink—it was something I could invest in.
In 2017, I began exploring movement through dragon boat racing, boxing, snowboarding, sailing, climbing, and bouldering. In 2018, I stepped into a gym for the first time and began strength training regularly.
That decision became much more than a fitness journey. It changed how I think about health, growth, and what it means to invest in yourself.
Today, I’ve traveled to 40+ countries and nearly every U.S. state. Becoming stronger has helped me experience the kind of life I once only imagined.
Two years into my fitness journey in summer 2020
Built to bend
I found an unexpected reflection of this philosophy in bamboo.
In 2015, I watched a talk by architect Elora Hardy about building bamboo houses. I was fascinated by the idea that something seemingly delicate can become remarkably strong when it is understood, designed and built well.
Years later, I took an in-depth bamboo construction course, studying everything from engineering principles to carpentry and building a model by hand. In 2023, I traveled to Bali for an immersive bamboo program, where I spent 11 days learning and building with bamboo and had the opportunity to meet and speak with Elora.
The experience stayed with me.
Bamboo became a metaphor for the way I think about people.
A beautiful structure needs a strong foundation. It needs flexibility without losing integrity, strength without rigidity, and thoughtful design that allows it to withstand change.
I believe our bodies and our lives are much the same.
My work is about helping people invest in that foundation.
Through strength training, yoga, nutrition and mindfulness, I help people build greater physical strength, confidence, resilience and awareness—so they can do more of the things that make life meaningful to them.
Whether that means becoming stronger in the gym, feeling more capable in everyday life, returning to an activity you love, or simply feeling more at home in your own body, fitness is not the final destination.
It is part of building a life you want to inhabit.
Visiting my dream bamboo house in Bali, Indonesia in October 2023
My background
I’m an ACE Certified Personal Trainer, ACE Group Fitness Instructor, ACE Behavior Change Specialist, ACE Fitness Nutrition Specialist, RYT-200 Yoga Teacher, and Certified Aerial Yoga Teacher.
Over the years, I’ve continued to expand my education across strength training, movement, yoga, behavior change and nutrition—not simply to collect certifications, but to better understand the many factors that influence how people move, feel and create lasting change.
My work in education also shapes the way I coach. Over the past 15 years, I have taught more than 5,000 students and professionals across 25+ countries, developing a communication style that emphasizes education, curiosity and meeting people where they are.
My background extends beyond physical fitness as well. I hold a Master’s degree in International Economics and Finance, and my experience as a Crisis Text Line counselor deepened my understanding of listening, empathy and emotional support.
These different parts of my life may seem unrelated at first—fitness, yoga, education, entrepreneurship, travel, mindfulness and even bamboo construction—but to me, they are all connected by the same idea:
Invest in yourself. Build a strong foundation. Then build the life you want from there.
That is the philosophy behind OnceInLife Wellness.
And it is the philosophy I hope to share with you.
Certifications
ACE Certified Personal Trainer
ACE Group Fitness Instructor
ACE Behavior Change Specialist
ACE Fitness Nutrition Specialist
RYT-200 Yoga Teacher
L1 Aerial Yoga Teacher from Trilogy Sanctuary
Education, Experience & Achievements
M.A. in International Economics & Finance
1st Runner-Up, ATV Miss Asia 2014 U.S. East Coast
4+ years professional personal training
8+ years strength-training experience
5,000+ students and professionals taught across 25+ countries
International traveler — 40+ countries and nearly every U.S. state
Begin Your OnceInLife Experience
Connect with Jing to explore how we can work together to help you invest in yourself.