Guest: Ethan Fung
As a first-time entrepreneur, Ethan struggled to recognize his own self-worth and would tie it to the success of his company’s revenue. He speaks about how self-doubt played a role, where in the past he would think that others can persevere and take the leap of faith, but not him, leaving him to stick to predefined ideas of what he thought other people wanted him to be. At the time, the internal dialogue he entertained is that whatever he struggled with is what he just had to endure. Any mistake that he encountered tampered with his self-worth. Ethan held an inaccurate definition of failure and dealt with a great deal of anxiety around needing to execute each task perfectly. He shared his experience of growing up in an Asian household as the eldest sibling, showing up as an obedient child – wanting to please his parents, show them respect, which only led him to developing a level of codependency. This perpetuated themes of pleasing other people, finding satisfaction in how others saw him, and this partly defined his version of what success meant for him. Ethan shares a mindset he operated from keeping him in survival mode, which in time led him to experience bitterness and resentment when he started to tap into his gut instinct and then brush it aside as he continued to please those around him. Ethan was not okay with making a mistake, feared messing up and worrying he would not be lovable. His key message to the listeners is that: don’t hold yourself back, you have so much potential, ability, skill and experience; don’t put yourself in a box and predefine yourself based on other people’s expectations; there’s more joy when you embrace your authentic self; take time to get to know yourself with all your flaws, blemishes and beauty.
Guest Bio: Ethan is the CEO and Co-founder of Expresume, an Artificial Intelligence (AI) resume builder that creates custom tailored resumes. Based on a job description’s keywords and a user’s database of skills and experience, Expresume synthesizes a resume custom tailored to that job description. It doesn’t falsify information, but helps the user articulate themselves to have the best shot at landing an interview.
Ethan has over three years of experience in communications in guest relations at Disney World, setting up business operations, and creating technical solutions for startups and government. He is a bonafide storyteller at heart. He loves to share his authentic self through video editing and storytelling about his entrepreneurial journey through quick posts on LinkedIn. Ethan helps the next generation through mentorship and teaching and loves to get to know new people. He volunteers at his local church to support the Saturday youth nights and Sunday School.
Passionate about: League of Innovators, #Real Talk
https://www.theleagueofinnovators.org/