My mum, the eldest of 7 children, worked as a nurse at a hospital in downtown Saigon. After losing a brother to war, my dad was conscripted as a medical aide. Both came to the conclusion that leaving their family, friends and homeland was a sacrifice they were willing to make for the potential of a future life away from the residue of war.

Under the cover of night, they illegally clambered onto overcrowded fishing boats and set off into the open sea. Needless to say this voyage was sketchy AF with limited resources onboard and thieving pirate thugs lurking off the coastline. 

They made it to refugee camps in Indonesia and Malaysia and after 9 months, they were eventually accepted into Australia in 1980. They met each other at English school and got married shortly after, settling in the humble western Sydney suburb of Blacktown.

Alongside my explorations into self-healing, I felt a strong call to research esoteric wisdom, metaphysics and ancient civilisations.

I synchronistically stumbled into a conversation about the Sumerian Tablets and the Annunaki which led me down a rabbit hole of esoteric research. I became obsessed with ancient civilisations like Atlantis and Lemuria. I was blown away by the work of Helena Blavatsky, Delores Cannon and Matias DeStefano. I devoured books like The Law Of One and Conversations With God. I even booked a solo ticket to an alien conference.

2018 was such an expansive year of geeking out about esoteric topics. My reality was bending and redefining itself.

Strangely, one thought kept returning to the forefront of my mind... the notion of New Atlantis.

The notion of New Atlantis became the creative launchpad for spirituality-inspired streetwear brand, Key And Isle.

Over it's variation incarnations, I partnered with friends Tom, Adele and Ryan to explore how spiritual concepts could be expressed through a streetwear brand.

With yin/yang dolphins as our signature motiff, we had a lot of fun with clothing collections, merch, dance parties, mixtapes series and even an exhibition with invited artists from all around the world to respond to the question: "What does spirit mean to you?"

In many ways, it was a vehicle to express my newfound interest in spirituality and esoteric through a medium and language I was familiar with, merging the fields of design, music, spirituality and altered states of consciousness.

It's worth mentioning that one of the first t-shirt designs featured the words: International Academy Of Transcendance... a tongue-in-cheek phrase that would eventually find a second life in years to come.

During my partying years, I had thrown some psychedelics into the hotpot along with other substances. There was never with an intention to use it for self-discovery and spiritual connection. This all changed when the universe introduced me to a group of psychonauts.

In my first acid trip with them, I slipped into a trance-like state. It was the first time I had shared my perspective on emotions, intuition and spirit so openly.

Although I didn't know it at the time, it was my first experience of conscious channeling. The top of my head was tingling with energy and I felt a powerful crown chakra connection. Words were effortlessly flowing through me and I had an innate knowing of which words were meant for who.

The aftermath of this impromptu healing circle had me and the group shook. My ego mind was trying to post-rationalise the experience but it was far bigger than I could comprehend. The heartfelt messages I received the following day inspired me to collate everything I'd been learning and find a way to share it with others. 

The heartfelt messages I received the following day inspired me to collate everything I had been learning and figure out a way to share it with others. I had another question to answer first though: 

"What do I call this thing?"

This is when those iconic words from Key And Isle drifted back into my awareness.

I had some serious self-doubt when it came to calling this new project Academy Of Transcendence. First of all, I was only at the beginning of my spiritual journey and I knew I had a lot to learn until I could comfortably say I help people heal, let alone "transcend". To be honest,  I didn't really know what it actually meant to transcend – it was just a playful idea we had on a t-shirt which just so happened to have my conveniently surname nestled into it.

I wrestled with whether claiming this name was brave, presumptuous, self-entitled or just delusional.

To accept the pressure, expectation and responsibilities of an "academy of transcendence" was a very audacious goal. The name felt a bit too big, too bold, too epic for me to take on. And I still had a long way to go before I felt comfortable calling myself a spiritual teacher.

Then one day I remembered the brand 'School Of Life' and thought:

"If they can pull it off, so can I." 

For the logo design, I wanted to incorporate the idea of elevating dimensional spheres and a global shift from separation into oneness.