Meet Lachlan Cameron Ma

We caught up with the brilliant and insightful Lachlan Cameron Ma a few weeks ago and have shared our conversation below.

Lachlan Cameron, so great to have you with us and we want to jump right into a really important question. In recent years, it’s become so clear that we’re living through a time where so many folks are lacking self-confidence and self-esteem. So, we’d love to hear about your journey and how you developed your self-confidence and self-esteem.

Growing up, I actually wasn’t confident about myself. Lots of times I would compare myself to others and even though I was on a constant pursuit to grow and be like those who I deemed “better” than myself, there was always a “higher person” to latch onto one I achieved a certain satisfaction of myself. I guess this could be beneficial in a sense that I knew I could always be better, but when will I ever achieve full confidence and great self-esteem? Thus, it took one thing to develop my confidence and self esteem: Therapy.

By going to therapy I was able to vocalize many of my concerns about myself that I’ve never put time and energy into addressing. By hearing an outside perspective on how I perceived myself, it was a validating experience that taught me one thing that has carried me through life so far — “I am the best version of myself at this point in time doing the best that I can given the knowledge and resources I am given.” By having this be a reminder to myself, I’ve develop strong confidence and self-esteem and know that even in times that I feel inferior or insecure, it is still the best version of who I am at that moment in time 🙂

Appreciate the insights and wisdom. Before we dig deeper and ask you about the skills that matter and more, maybe you can tell our readers about yourself?

Brand: I’m about to hit 14K followers on Linkedin and I recently started noticing how large of a following I had a few months ago. I wondered what made people want to follow me and it’s because of the advice I would give to job searchers about how to find a job because the job market is extremely competitive and difficult in America. Soooo, I decided to create a YouTube channel (Channel Name: Lachlan Cameron) where I use my expertise as a recruiter in tech to tell insider advice on exactly HOW to land a job in tech. I normally work on this during weekends and after work, but I never get tired of it because of the impact it makes on people. Please subscribe to my channel if you’re looking to level up in your life 😉 Additionally I travel a LOT and my friend taught me about point hacking so I’m super passionate about Business Travel and service. I just came back from an around-the-world trip where I flew Business Class to Switzerland, Singapore, and Tokyo all in Business Class and I love comparing the experience I had in each airline. You can see many of the destinations I travel to on my instagram (@lachlan.ma), and I will be releasing these travel reviews in the next few weeks on my YouTube channel 😉

Job: I’m currently a tech recruiter, but I recently left my job at TikTok after 4.5 years where I was a Global Talent Acquisition Partner. TLDR I hired software engineers that developed the product and infrastructure of TikTok. More notably, I worked on building teams from scratch for TikTok Shop in 2021 and in 2024 I lived in Sydney, Australia, to build their engineering team there (since I’m still an Aussie Citizen). Having the opportunity to live in Sydney again was a life-changing experience because even though it was tough and I was stuck in the office for till many late evenings (#severeburnout), I got to reconnect with my family who lives there and even brought my mom to live with me next to the Opera House for a while. I also realized that I do want to move back to Sydney soon and invest in a property so I can live half of my time in Sydney and the other half in SoCal. However, with a corporate job alone, this is something that I cannot achieve. This brings me to my other avenues that will soon get me back to a life in Australia — Real Estate Investment and Content Creation.

Side Hustles: During covid, I bought my first residential property that I lived in for a few years then co-invested in a second one with my parents. Additionally, I have two youtube channels, one monetized (K-pop News) and the other is newly started career coaching channel and on its way to monetization (Lachlan Cameron). The equity and income on these ventures is how I’ll be able to grow my money and a comfortable future despite the rough economy we seem to forever be in.

There is so much advice out there about all the different skills and qualities folks need to develop in order to succeed in today’s highly competitive environment and often it can feel overwhelming. So, if we had to break it down to just the three that matter most, which three skills or qualities would you focus on?

In my journey, possessing resilience, empathy, and humility have been the most impactful qualities that have built me up to who I am and what I have achieved. Resilience helped me push through setbacks without losing momentum—it’s what kept me moving when things got hard (because not everything is easy and that’s okay!). Empathy let me build real relationships, whether with coworkers, candidates, or leaders, because I actually took the time to understand their perspective and foster genuine connections. Humility kept me open to feedback and constantly learning, which honestly made me better at my job and easier to work with. Together, those three traits shaped how I lead, grow, and show up every day.

My advice is to take the path not taken. That doesn’t mean making life harder just for the sake of it—it means being willing to step outside your comfort zone, even when it’s uncomfortable or uncertain. That’s where resilience is built and where real growth happens. Practice empathy by listening more than you speak, especially with people who see things differently. And stay humble by staying curious—ask questions, take feedback seriously, and keep learning like you’re just getting started. These traits take time, but if you keep showing up with intention, they’ll shape how you lead, grow, and connect.

What was the most impactful thing your parents did for you?

The most impactful thing my parents did for me is move to America (from Australia) and showed me and my siblings love. Sounds cliché, but the reason is because living in Los Angeles, me and my siblings were able to each find our own footing in our community which made establishing our careers and lifestyle much smoother. Also my dad used to work in Hong Kong for an aviation company where we used to be able to fly almost for free, so my parents used to take us to many different countries around the world which is where I gained my love for traveling and even exploring countries on my own. We actually moved around over 10x growing up across different countries, cities, and houses which helped me adapt and be open to being anywhere and make the most of it. I guess my parents really helped me expand my horizons physically and mentally by moving us around.

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