My Story

I was five years old when I saw someone fly.

I was in an after-school program when another student threw a flying side kick. I was hooked.

That program was part of Chuck Norris's United Fighting Arts Federation. Seven years later, at twelve years old, I earned my first black belt. I was supposed to test in front of Chuck Norris himself — until the school owner left the organization six months before my exam.

The black belt came. The chance to test in front of a legend didn't. But the real lesson wasn't about who was watching. It was about showing up anyway.

I was a lost kid with no plan. So I decided to serve.

I didn't know what I wanted to do with my life. No career path, no direction. I figured if I didn't know where I was going, I might as well serve my country while I figured it out.

From 2004 to 2006, I served in the United States Air Force as a Crew Chief on F-16 Fighter Jets. E3 Airman 1st Class. My job was to make sure the aircraft assigned to me was ready to fly, and that critical systems on several others were in working order.

The biggest lesson from the flight line: people are relying on you. Show up. Do the work. Don't cut corners. Ever.

Driving home from the movies, I saw a sign.

After the military I moved back into my father's house to get my civilian footing. One night driving home from the movie theater, I saw a sign for Bushi Ban Martial Arts and Fitness. Walked in. Signed up.

Six months later I was researching universities when the school owner — Senior Master Hasan Zubair Sayid, 7th Degree Bushiban and 5th Degree Yamani Chinen-ryu — pulled me aside. "Don't go back to school. Let me teach you how to run a business and how to teach martial arts."

That decision shaped the next eight years of my life. I became Head Instructor, teaching students from age three and a half on up. Mindset. Leadership. Self-defense. Weapon systems. Communication. Self-awareness.

I earned additional ranks along the way: 1st Degree in Shorin Ryu and 3rd Degree in Chinin Yamani-ryu under Renshi Kiyoshi Nishime, and three gold medals in Tai Chi competing in China under Grand Master Aiping Cheng. Later, a formal Sensei title was awarded to me at Bushiban headquarters in Houston, Texas, signed by Grand Master Zulfi Ahmed, Grand Master Masayuki Ward, and Grand Master Dr. Maung Gyi — a board with more than 500 combined years of martial arts experience.

Life is about the skills you acquire and apply.

Teaching martial arts gave me purpose — but it didn't pay the bills. I realized that success is about two things: the skills you acquire and the timing of when you apply them.

So I went to get new skills. Sales at Verizon. Then recruiting — connecting people with the right opportunities for their lives and their families. Then real estate investment. Then international expansion. Then AI and automation.

Every move was intentional. Every chapter stacked on the last.

When in doubt, throw it out.

The recruiting industry has a saying: "When in doubt, send it out." Just get resumes in front of clients and hope something sticks.

I flipped that. My rule was "When in doubt, throw it out." I wanted my name to mean something — when a client saw a resume I sent, they should know it was the highest-caliber candidate on the market. They should look forward to opening it.

My sales calls started the same way every time: "I have a job I think you'd fit, but I want to understand what's important to you first. I don't want to waste your time on something that may not be what you're looking for."

If it wasn't the right fit, I'd connect them to someone in my network who was. I wasn't trying to fill jobs. I was trying to serve the person in front of me.

The result: in 2018 and 2019, I was ranked #4 in the world out of more than 1,700 recruiters in the NPAworldwide network.

Three investments. Then my own property. Then Vietnam.

My entry into real estate started as capital investments with a partner doing flips — three projects over nearly two years. Then I took on my own renovation, mentored by Dr. Sami Shamma, who had built a multi-million dollar real estate development business.

Around that same time, a previous relationship opened a door in Vietnam. My first investment there was Asha Academy — Vietnam's first transformation-based education company, built to help people rediscover their strength, rewrite their story, and rise. I became a co-founder.

From that foothold, I invested in electrical contracting for countrywide infrastructure projects. Real estate. Land excavation. The common thread: I don't just write checks. I show up.

Drinking water from a firehose.

When AI and automation started accelerating, I jumped in headfirst. No coding background. No formal training. Just the belief that the skills I acquire and apply are the ones that compound.

It was brutal at first. Every day there was a new tool, a new shiny feature, another framework to learn. I failed a lot trying to build applications, programs, and integrations that didn't work. But I kept going.

Today I help lead Shamma Consultancy — 18 team members across the US, Canada, Europe, and Vietnam, serving clients in 16 countries. We're launching SL Tech in Vietnam, positioned to become the forefront of AI-embedded software for manufacturing, distribution, petrochemicals, government, finance, and oil & gas. Our philosophy: From Vietnam · For Vietnam · By Vietnam.

And there's more in the pipeline — including a new accounting software venture coming soon.

Leave better than when we came.

The phrase is mine. It came to me during a course taught by Kevin Kearns — "Burn with Kearns," the transformation coach who conditioned over fifteen UFC fighters and certified more than 2,400 trainers worldwide. My martial arts mentor had us take it.

One part of the course was putting together a personal life motto. When that exercise came up, those six words arrived and didn't let go. I've been living by them ever since.

It's not about leaving a tip or being polite. It's an operating philosophy. It means every person you interact with should walk away better for having met you. Every business you touch should be stronger for your involvement. Every student, every candidate, every founder, every friend. If you're not actively making things better, you're taking up space.

That's what I try to do. From the dojo to the flight line. From the recruiting desk to the boardroom. From Connecticut to Hanoi.

If that resonates with you, I'd love to hear from you.