In episode 53 of Everything is Up, Tammera Hollerich interviews Davidson Hang, the founder of Daring Hearts and Valenta Consulting. Davidson shares his journey of self-discovery through attending conferences worldwide, and investing over $150,000 in personal growth. He discusses the shift from extrinsic to intrinsic motivation, emphasizing self-love and vulnerability in business.
Tune in for insights on finding true happiness and authenticity in the pursuit of success.
TIMESTAMPS
[00:01:30] Self-Development and Personal Growth.
[00:06:05] Asian American Experiences.
[00:09:34] Breaking Through Bamboo Ceiling.
[00:13:40] Progress in Diversity and Inclusion.
[00:19:17] Impacting Lives Through Audacious Goals.
[00:20:18] Marriage and Compromise.
[00:24:25] Foodie Adventures and Dessert Spots.
In this episode, Tammera Hollerich and Davidson Hang provided valuable insights into the journey towards greater diversity and inclusion in the workplace, showcasing both the progress made and the challenges that still need to be addressed to create truly inclusive and equitable work environments.
Furthermore, Davidson's goal of impacting 100 million lives through his work demonstrates his ambitious vision for the future. He emphasizes the importance of making a positive impact on others and creating a space for mentorship and growth. By sharing his story and experiences, Davidson aims to inspire and uplift others, showing that resilience and ambition can lead to success and meaningful contributions to society.
QUOTES
SOCIAL MEDIA LINKS
Tammera Hollerich
Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/TammeraHollerich
LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/tammerahollerich/
Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/thollerich/
Davidson Hang
Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/DavidsonHang
LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/davidsonhang/
Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/davidsonhangofficial/
WEBSITES
Everything Is Up: https://everything-is-up.simplecast.com/
Tammera Hollerich: https://tammerahollerich.com/
Davidson Hang: https://davidsonhang.com/
Welcome to Everything is Up, a podcast about the real life stories of people who have created extraordinary levels of success. These are conversations with people who are constantly striving to take things to the next level. And now here's your host.
Intro/Outro
Welcome to Everything is Up with Tamara. Joining me today is Davidson Hung. Is it Hung? Hang? How do you say it?
Tammera Hollerich
I say hang.
Davidson Hang
You say hang, okay. So Davidson, hang. So Davidson, thank you so much for joining me. I'm really excited about the conversations that we'll be able to have today. I know that you now have your own company, correct? Yes, that's correct. In the consulting world, give us a little bit of background and the name of the company and how you got started in that.
Tammera Hollerich
Yeah, yeah. So I have two different companies to make things even more complicated. The first one is a personal slash professional development company called Daring Hearts, where I nerd out on all the Tony Robbins, all the coaching, all the self-development books and seminars. So I have spent over $150,000 over 10 years to just attend all these conferences all over the world and just fell in love with it. because I was just trying to find myself because I was like making more money every year, but I was like, wasn't quite happy. I was like, oh, like I thought I would be happier the more money I've made. But then I realized like, oh, it's because I was, there was a lot of extrinsic motivation. So I was just doing things to like, like people pleasing stuff. So a lot of the programs I do in self-development, all the content I make is around like how to love yourself more, how to be vulnerable in the business context, like, like we were talking about. It's like sometimes we put on this business persona, this facade, and it's like, oh, I have all my stuff together. But the reality is we all go through struggles. So that's one of the main reasons why I decided to start this company.
Davidson Hang
So your childhood background, I've read a lot about because you're very transparent about your childhood and some of the struggles and how that helped to propel you forward at a young age. Was it a young age? When did your parents actually split? When did you not grow up with a dad?
Yeah, it's it's funny because we only remember the bad things. But honestly, the first the first 12 years, he was actually pretty there for us, you know, but it's it's always like we always remember as humans, I think we just tend to gravitate towards like the negative side of things. But it was like around 15 where he started to when he just left one day, like without saying a word and completely messed me up a lot.
I can imagine that that would be earth-shattering. Well, teenage years are hard enough as it is. I would tell my daughter, I didn't like high school the first time I was there. I really don't like it the second time going through it with you. But the reality is, those very impressionable years in our teens, where we are not kids anymore, but we're not adults anymore, when those key people vanish, kind of like what you're saying, you just kind of left one day and didn't say anything. And that has an impact, whether we want to admit it or not, that that definitely does have an impact. And what I love about your story is that you did not let your past define your future. At all, like you just said, OK, you had a pivotal job working for LinkedIn. You talk about that. So what was that experience like? Because it's not often you get to talk to an insider that worked at LinkedIn, right?
Yeah, LinkedIn, it's a tricky place, right? Because you're surrounded by so many high achievers. So in some ways, it's motivating because everyone's on their A-game and everyone's super ambitious and has all these amazing visions. But there's a sense, it's hard to not compare yourself when everyone else feels like they're killing it in life. I was surrounded by these 25, 26 year olds that were making like sometimes double the money I was making. And I think at that time I was 30, 33 and 32 years old. So I was just like, you know, it's hard not to compare, but I was just like, man, like I'm so behind compared to some of these kids, you know, but now looking back at it, I would say like, It's probably the best company I've ever worked at just because there was such an emphasis on a lot of inclusion and just learning about different cultures and everyone was open and there was a lot of professional development that Now I'm looking back and I'm like, wow, they just gave it out. Every day was like a new professional development seminar or workshop or conscious business to joining the women ERGs and learning about what are some of the challenges being a female, right? And me going to that and feeling accepted still. Like, hey, of course you can attend our meetings. It's good to have allies. So it was eye-opening in the sense that I'm like, wow, I have so much to learn. But it was also, paralyzing because I never felt like I was good enough because everyone was just so ambitious.
Interesting that, you know, you brought up the inclusion, which I'm kind of glad that you did, because you do also talk a lot about, you know, the culture and, you know, being an Asian American and, um, this crazy diverse world that we live in. And yet, you know, it was just a couple of years ago where there was all of the Asian hate crime stuff that was going on. How do you handle that? I mean, I'm female, so I have that, but I'm also white. You know what I mean? So I feel like there's some privilege there as well. So talk to us a little bit about what that is actually like, because I don't think a lot of our audience, you know, I have a lot of CEOs that listen to this, and I think it would be good to hear from an Asian American, like what that's like. How do we all kind of help that culture, right, feel more inclusive?
Yeah, that's a great question. Thank you for providing the space. You know, and I'm a male, so like you said, like I have male privilege. I want to acknowledge that as well. It's tricky, right? Because I do think there is an element of like, I think people are on different stages. So it has to be like an innate curiosity, like, well, I want to learn, right? It can't be forced. So I think some companies, they overdo it where they kind of force the diversity inclusion stuff and then it repels people, has the opposite effect. Yeah, it's challenging, I would say, because I spent so much time in therapy and just self-development to try to heal that component of my life. So now I can be with white people and not get triggered, right? But I think, how do I say this? I would say it's been hard. I think in some ways, we're the most educated on paper, right? Like a lot of PhDs, Masters, but we also have the lowest... I'm speaking for Asian Americans in corporate America. We have the lowest management percentages. So there are a lot of assumptions and some of it's like executive presence or hey, can they communicate or just little things like, oh, your English is really good. It's like, oh, that's an interesting comment, you know? So it's weird because when I do meet people and sometimes maybe it's me realizing I need to do the work on my own, right? Because I'm just a very sensitive person. So if someone's just like, hey, like, where are you from? And I'm like, oh, I'm from New Jersey. They're like, no, like, Where are you from? And I'm like, oh, I lived in New York. Like, what do you mean? And they're like, like, right. Yeah. And they're like, oh, my parents are born in Vietnam. But like, I mean, personally, I've never been to Asia yet. Right. So when you say that, like, does that it just makes me feel like, oh, like, does that mean like, I'm not American, you know, because I feel pretty American, like, you know, I was born here. Like, so it's like, it's like a weird dynamic where our parents and our culture is more of that Eastern philosophy where it's, and in some ways, like the people that, the Asians that have broke into like the, you know, the C-suite, the VPs and senior directors and above, they don't necessarily have this context as much as folks that are individual contributors. Because I would run these panel events like at LinkedIn and other where I would have Asian C-suite come speak to a lot of the employees just to talk about how they were able to break into, we call it like breaking through the bamboo ceiling. Interesting.
That's cute. Yeah, cute.
Yeah, it's like the glass ceiling, but yeah, with her specifically for Asians. And I'll never forget this story. The head of sales for LinkedIn marketing, so she has like a thousand people underneath her, right? But I remember she was telling me about when she was a vendor, She was in the boardroom and they just assumed that she was like the executive assistant. So they're like, hey, can you get us like five coffees? And we went up to her and just to make everyone really uncomfortable, they were in the room and then once they realized, oh, wow, she's like the head boss. So she went down to Starbucks, like this is in New York City, you know, our building was the Empire State Building. So they were waiting for 10 minutes in absolute silence while she went and then she gave them the coffee. And I was just like, man, but that's an example of like some of the things as a, and she's Korean, right? So that's examples of things that assumptions that are being made, like, you know, whenever I close a deal and we go out to celebrate, you know, like our, my coworkers would joke and be like, Hey, like, guess what Davidson's role is within the company. And they're like, oh, it's IT or accounting or finance or something. And it's like, no, he's a salesperson. And the guy's like, oh, really? Like, I would have never thought that just like these little things, you know, but all these little things add up to like a lot of, you know, it, it, it, like it, it chips away at you and your, your self-confidence sometimes.
Yeah, and what's interesting about just this conversation of diversity, the entire country, 275 years ago, was the melting pot of every country, how we built our country. So all of these biases that are now surfacing, I mean, and the biases are everywhere. My husband is first generation American Bulgarian. And with everything that's been going on in Ukraine, there's some biases that he is feeling. We had this conversation the other night. Him and I may not always agree on the political stance of how things are going over there. He's a lot more invested. than I am. But at least there's these open household conversations about, you know, why? And I think it has helped. I grew up a military brat. And so I literally from the time that I was born was in this very diverse world where I just didn't know any differently. So I see that as a blessing that my parents were able to give to me. But it's very, very interesting to me, now married to someone who's a first generation American like you, and watching how we are treating each other. And you know, that is the thing about it, is it has gotten to the point where um the 10 commandments don't seem to mean anything anymore right love thy neighbor regardless of where they came from or why they're here or we all live on this continent together and I really love you know just as I was doing the research for today for us to visit You're so transparent about it that I knew we would have a space to be able to discuss it. So I love that. There's way too many biases. But you're right. The corporate America is trying to walk a tight line. And they are trying to force diversity in the workspace. I agree with you I think it is having the opposite effect where it is repelling and it's causing more distention than it is causing inclusion and that's just you know an observation but I from what I was reading and what you were just saying you're seeing the same thing.
Yeah, I mean, look, like I do think we've made a lot of progress, right? Because even just having this conversation is a sign of progress, right? Because back then there wasn't as many spaces. And then having sold like diversity inclusion programs, like when I was working at LinkedIn or Udemy or a Fortune magazine or at Coach Hub, like that was part of the products that we were selling. I think it's tricky, right? Because I think in some ways, like the Stop Asian Hate, the BLM, it actually caused a lot more organizations to be curious, to read books like White Privilege, or White Fragility. I mean, that was a hot topic at one point. Yeah, it was. But forcing people to do that, that was tough. But I do want to acknowledge that we have made a lot of progress. The fact that I can even, I think for my podcast, I've interviewed over 40 five Asian executives that are in the C-suite, like CRO, CMOs, DPs at huge companies like Yahoo and Samsung and a lot of these big companies. That's definitely a lot more progress than compared to my parents' generation where they didn't have as much representation.
That's you know, so there is the good news everybody we are making progress, you know, where it does seem like sometimes we don't have as much of what we're looking for at least what you're seeing on your end is the fact that we do have some progress. Which is great right so let's pivot a little bit and let's talk about Davidson and what Davidson's like what are your goals like talk to me about you know you talk about being you know you grew up poor. and having to overcome and learn and grow there. You are incredibly ambitious. I mean, two companies, that's... One is hard, two is just sometimes crazy, because you have to be pulled in so many different directions, but you're doing it and you're crushing it. And you've got a podcast. So you are really kind of the epitome of I am going to be resilient. So let's talk to me about how you feel about the word resilient when it comes to your own life.
Yeah, I definitely think like it's there's two ways I look at it. I think I could be resilient from survival where I'm just like, I just need to make it or I need to have a chip on my shoulder. So I think I can most of my life I was like, you know what, like, I need to represent for all the Asian Americans. And like, that's like a huge burden, right? Like, I think that In some ways, that was paralyzing because I was like, I can't fail. Because if I fail, they're never going to hire another Asian salesperson again. So I put that pressure on myself. But in some ways, I am glad that I grew up poor, without a father. Because I do see that when it is tough, when I see some of my friends, not to compare, but we as humans, we all compare. And I see sometimes they go through like, I would perceive that as like a minor setback, but for them, it feels like the world is like crumbling down. And I'm like, but then I also need to have compassion and empathy. Like, you know what? Like everyone's pain is different, right? Just because like, I don't think that's necessarily painful. It doesn't mean, who's to say like my pain was worse, right? So it's a tricky balance, but I would say one of my goals is it's called the 100 million lives movement. So I want to be able to impact a hundred million lives, like as my legacy.
That is a huge number. That's a huge number. Okay. Yeah. But ambitious. I mean, I will give you that that is some serious. I mean, mine was I wanted to positively impact the lives of health and wellness and lives and weight of a million people or more before I left out, but 100 million, like, okay, you you just surpassed my ambition. And I thought I was ambitious. So but I mean, that's fantastic. I mean, You also had, I saw that you wrote once that the ultimate is impacting someone else's life. That you see that as being the ultimate goal of just really your purpose in life. In doing so, right, and in having that impact, is that part of why you started the coaching and really saying, this is the direction I want to go?
I mean, I've been very fortunate to have like people like yourself that are just so positive and just great mentors. Like, you know, you're clearly like a beacon of hope and energy and like the way you're able to understand people. So I've just been very fortunate to have a lot of mentors and mind you, like many of them are white men, right? Middle-aged white men who I used to perceive as like the enemy, quote, unquote, right? If we're talking about the DE and I work and I feel very blessed to have had these great mentors and just looking back at when I was younger, I was like, man, I would love to create a space to provide this type of mentorship to as many people as possible. So that's why I do have some pretty audacious goals. Because I do think we live in an age of abundance if we can see it, if we choose it, right? Or we'd be solely focused on what's not right in our lives, right? So it's interesting. But I do have moments where I'm like, why me? But I'm like, why not? Like, who else can do it? Why not? Yeah. Yeah. Yeah.
So I okay, so that's, that's a really cool thing. So some of the things that you like to do when you're not working, and you're not making this positive impact on everybody's life out there. What are some of the things that you and you're married, right? Do you have children?
Not yet, but hopefully, hopefully soon.
So are you How long have you guys been married?
Three, three and a half years now.
So you guys are just babies. Ivan and I actually just celebrated our 25th wedding anniversary, and if you'd have told me when we got married, I never thought we wouldn't make it. I tell everybody all the time, I'm like, I can run three companies, a podcast, have 55 chickens, six dogs, like I can do all of this. But the hardest thing I do is that compromise of the one person who's supposed to love me the most, right? Because it is hard. Being married is the hardest thing I do because I don't have control all the time. So when we hit 25, I was like, Hey, we made it. And he was like, like, is it over? I was like, no, no, no, no. Now when we hit the first milestone, so 50 is next, right? So it's like, I've got to have a 50th wedding anniversary. So I told him you can't die on me because now I have to get to 50. But yeah, so, so how did you guys meet?
We met at a college bar at Rutgers.
Oh, fun, fun, fun. Now, where'd you go to school at?
So we both went to Rutgers, like I went to the New Brunswick campus and she went to the Newark campus.
So both of you guys are from New Jersey.
Yeah.
Okay. So we won't hold that against you. You know, as Texans, we just, we won't hold that against you. Um, okay. So, um, but both of you guys from New Jersey, um, you said you spent some time in New York, obviously working at LinkedIn. Did you commute or did you actually move to the city?
Yeah, so it's it's it's funny story. So being I grew up like near like the suburbs of Philadelphia and Cherry Hill. Right. Most of my life. So I had a bias. I'm like, oh, New York is dirty. Like they're not great. But then because my wife is in fashion and she she she also was working in the Empire State Building, like I moved to the city so that we could we could live together. And I fell in love with New York City. Like I still think that it's the best city in the world, personally.
Well, you know, that's where we went for our 25th wedding anniversary, because that's where we went for our honeymoon. So when I said, okay, so I mean, so for us, New York City is kind of a, it just has a special place. I had never been to New York before we had gotten married. So it was, he was like, well, where do you want to go? And I was like, New York City. And he was like, really? Because he was born and raised in Pittsburgh. So he was like, you don't want to go to Hawaii or a beach. I was like, I really and we got married at Christmas. So it was Christmas in New York City, which is absolutely like if you've never been to New York City at Christmas, it's by far the most magical, most beautiful place. ever. And so, you know, we went and did all the touring things. So this last time when we were there in December for our anniversary, just kind of, we kind of did all the things we did when we got married for our honeymoon. And so I'm with you. I love New York. It bummed me out so bad during COVID when everything there was going through as much trouble as they were having and everything was shutting down and Broadway was like non-existent. I was just like, how's that even possible in New York?
I know. It was crazy. So so we were living. That was the pandemic was when like right across from Grand Central. So you're right. It was so eerie. Like I would just walk down Fifth Avenue and literally there would be like no one like I think only five. I think I did a 20 minute walk and I only saw five people during that. And it was yeah, it was the craziest thing I've ever. I was like, this is like kind of scary, but it was kind of cool, too, because like I was like able to walk in the middle of the street, which like would never happen.
Well, that's it. I think about what happened with 9-11, and then I think about the pandemic. And New York City just seems to have a story all its own in my lifetime. So it's really just kind of crazy that we're there. So some of the things that I read that you like to hike, and you're a big foodie. Is your wife a foodie too?
Yeah, but she's a lot less picky than me. Well, she's the only person I know that doesn't actually like care about fine dining, which is weird, right? Yeah, yeah. She she likes a lot of like Asian, like Korean food and like a lot of Asian foods. And she loves dessert places. So that's one of our hobbies. Like every weekend we go to and she's because on Instagram you can find like what's like trending. Right. So she's always like she always knows like what's like the new spot, what everyone is like posting on social media.
I love it. I love it. You guys, I mean, just your spirit and you know, I can't say enough about how I have enjoyed our time together and the conversations that we've had. And I wish the two of you the most, just the best luck in your marriage and with your company. And it is Valenta Consulting, right? Is that how I pronounce it, Valenta? How did you come up with the name Valenta?
So we bought a franchise actually, me and my partner. So Larry, he's been ex-Deloitte senior partner for 15 years. So it's like a franchise model. So each one of us has like a different, so there's 56 franchise owners. So it's like buying in. Yeah. So think like the Shake Shack model where, you know, they give you the playbook and they give you like the menu of products that you can sell. And then each of us choose somewhere that something that we want to specialize in. So we chose automation and managed analytics because we see that that's like the future.
Well, I have to agree with you because data is the future. I mean, no matter how you slice and dice it. So that's, I mean, what a great story. Davidson, I really thank you so much for joining me today and I hope that you find all that 100 million positive lives to go impact. We'll be rooting from you here with Everything is Up with Tamara. So everyone, just thank you guys all and Davidson, thank you again for joining us with Everything is Up with Tamara. Have a great day, everybody. It's Davidson with Valentia Consulting. Thanks, Davidson.
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