From Startup CMO to Global Nomadic Artist

This is my first post as a coach. I’m writing it to share what shaped this path — and to offer a window for others navigating change, reinvention, or multi-passionate lives.

Walking Nonlinear Paths

For most of my life, I’ve found myself walking paths that didn’t quite fit the map.

At 16, I entered university in South Korea.

At 21, I had my master’s in international economics — and a newborn daughter.

By 30, I had built a career as a CMO in Korea’s tech startup scene and moved to San Francisco to lead Product Operations at a growing startup.

At 35, I’m a global nomadic artist, a solopreneur — and a mother to a teenage daughter who now creates alongside me and travels the world by my side.

I've always wondered: “What if progress wasn’t a ladder, but a circle, a spiral, or a node in a network?”

• Ladder: Up and down, One path, One direction
• Circle: Growth through reflection, Wholeness, not hierarchy
• Spiral: Evolution, not repetition, The path deepens
• Node of Network: Progress through relationship and connection

I believe nonlinear paths aren’t deviations.

They’re deep creative responses to life.

I share mine for anyone forging their own.

A Shift Begins

My path started shifting gradually.

Through late-night painting.

Through solo walks in unfamiliar cities.

Through deep listening — to myself and others.

I slowly stepped away from full-time tech roles.

Took on consulting work for startup leads and marketing teams.

Started creating visual art — experimenting with texture, material, and time.

Built my own tech platforms for artists like myself.

Joined residencies, exhibited in 9+ countries, and kept building as a solopreneur.

During these shifts, I found coaching as an anchor, a mirror, a compass.

It held me through change. Now I offer that space to others.

I became — to my own surprise — a global nomadic artist, a founder, a mother, a coach.

I stopped choosing between disciplines and began weaving through them.

It Wasn’t a Leap — It Was a Series of Small Experiments

No romantic “I quit my job” story.

No dramatic transformation.

No overnight change.

Just one small exploration after another.

One version of myself making space for the next.

One boundary softening.

One new city becoming home — Seoul, Oakland, San Francisco, Tulum, Mexico City, Leipzig, Copenhagen, Berlin, Istanbul, Buenos Aires, and New York.

I learned to live with ambiguity.

I learned to let uncertainty be a collaborator, not an enemy.

Now I Help Others Navigate Change, Too

Through coaching, I hold space for others at inflection points — people who, like me, walk nonlinear paths: multi-passionate, transitioning, integrating, expanding.

Not just starting over, but starting deeper.

Whether you’re an artist learning to lead, a solopreneur building a soulful project, or a global nomad in the middle of “what’s next,” — I see you.

You’re not lost — you’re evolving.

Why I Started This

Why What Matters is a place I built for people like us: Those who live between roles, between cultures, between ideas.

Those who want to build something rooted, even when the ground keeps shifting.

This blog will hold stories, tools, reflections.

I’ll share what I’m learning, building, unlearning.

And I’ll invite you into the questions, not just the answers.

Let’s Begin

Subscribe if you’d like to stay connected.

Or reach out if you’re in a moment of change.

The next version of you is already in motion.

Let’s honor what matters — and build from there.

— Jay