We caught up with the brilliant and insightful Ally Gong a few weeks ago and have shared our conversation below.
Ally, we’re thrilled to have you on our platform and we think there is so much folks can learn from you and your story. Something that
matters deeply to us is living a life and leading a career filled with
purpose and so let’s start by chatting about how you found your
purpose.
I’m excited to share my journey towards finding purpose, and some tips to help you navigate your own search. In a world that seems to be changing drastically without any standard guide, we’re all more confused than ever about what true purpose could or should look like. I think this topic is incredibly important.
I intuitively connected to glimpses of my purpose, even at that tiny age, and those experiences left me in awe. Though I didn’t yet have the language to describe it, these moments were so impactful that I couldn’t forget or ignore them. Let me share a few of these early moments of tapping into purpose, and maybe it will spark something curious from your childhood as well.
It was a boring afternoon in fourth-grade history class right after lunch- where all the exciting and fun things happened. We were supposed to fill out event names and dates in our red workbooks, yet I had somehow crawled over to the bookshelf and stumbled upon a copy of Anne Frank’s diary. I grabbed the book and stared at it because it had a photograph of a girl who looked about my age on the cover. I then proceeded to read the entire book under the desk in class and then later on my walk home. I was completely fascinated by Anne Frank’s enduring courage through the unfolding of World War II and the Holocaust. It was the greatest story of resilience I’d stumbled upon so far as a ten-year-old, and it still inspires me to this day. For one of the first times in my life, I had latched onto this concept of purpose: something unique to us and also potentially greater than us, an expression of the human spirit that could touch and impact people through time and space.
What followed that accidental encounter with Anne Frank’s diary and many other unrelated songs, movies, books, and thought-provoking experiences? I began to ask myself, what is my reason for being alive? Why did I come here?
From then on, I was in the unrelenting and voracious search for my “purpose” in every corner and crevice of my life. When would I find it? When would I start living in it? And how would I know? This search for purpose coincided with my very identity growing up. It was then multiplied by the general identity crises we face as we navigate friendships, academics, identity, and all the other myriad of strange experiences in our teenage and early adult years.
Studying Economics in college at UCLA, I did not feel on purpose 80% percent of the time. (Especially not when I failed my very first class in the major.) When I published my first poetry book, LA baby, (a coming-to-age illustrated poetry anthology about my college years) and it received resonant feedback from hundreds of readers across the world, I asked myself if I felt on purpose then. And the answer was “a little closer, but not yet.” Throughout the startup world, across varying roles, a sense of purpose was often there. Constant headwinds of stress, pressure, and unknown risks didn’t always lead me to feel that I was doing the right thing with my life. But when I saw the products of my hard work and the great work of teams I’ve worked with come to life piece by piece, purpose crept up on me too in equal measure. I have tried many times and failed many times. I have seen my myriad of dreams come true, one at a time. And they are still in the process of unfolding.
When this question about purpose came up recently in my interview with BoldJourney, I laughed to myself. Sitting there in a bright, sunny coworking lounge in Tokyo, I realized that it’d been months, maybe almost years since I’d last thought about that word. I realized that amidst the past few years of business and inspiration, I’d come fully into my purpose- and so my soul had finally released its constant hunt for it. I held on for a moment to this feeling of serendipity that I had often felt growing up, starting from that first moment of running into Anne Frank’s diary so many years ago.
How did I find my purpose?
It was a patchwork quilt with many disparate contributions that eventually collided. It took a lot of humbling, lots of claiming the wrong personalities just to get a gentle nudge from the Universe that maybe…you’re not quite there yet. Maybe that’s not quite for you. Try again. And it took gentle and caring love to pick back up despite feeling like wanting to give up. It came from trusting myself and my inner vision. It came from being inspired by great people before me and beside me. It came from believing that my purpose would find me equally as I was finding it.
Lastly and probably most importantly, purpose was built from my own challenging experiences of being human. When I faced indignance, in my own life but even more often in the greater world outside me, it seemed unfair and even hopeless at times. My purpose became whatever tidbits I could find within that would give me the strength to move forward. It came from persevering, through a space of hope and love for the human experience. My purpose made me want to work harder to bring my vision into the world. And to not give up, simply because I care. Caring about the world means finding the courage to try again when everything seems wrong so that we can build more of what we believe in and would like to see. Purpose, I’ve come to understand, is not a static entity but a dynamic, unfolding process that is about embracing beginnings, riding out the waves, and facing storms head-on. It’s about finding joy in exploration and courage in the process of unfolding. For those embarking on their own journey to find purpose, my practical advice is to remain open and curious. Engage with your passions, connect with others on similar paths, and be willing to take risks and face uncertainties. Reflect regularly on your experiences and learnings, and most importantly, find joy in the journey, even when the path is uncharted.
If you’re wondering where you can find purpose, I believe your purpose exists right there inside of you. It’s just contained in a unique timeline and map. Like many complex and worthwhile phenomena in life, there is often less concrete guidance the deeper you go into the journey. Though purpose doesn’t really hand you a map or a compass, curiously, it leaves clues for us everywhere.
It’s a mix of ingredients that could and probably will look different for everyone, like a beloved recipe. We pass down recipes like heirlooms because it’s through the uniqueness of the cook, the time put in, all the meals cooked, the dinners created and shared before one comes upon their signature go-to recipe.
It took unraveling and healing to go from a one-dimensional identity to stepping into a more complex and expansive version of my authenticity and embracing all of my humanity instead of seeing it as a mess. Creativity is a messy process unfolding. So is your purpose, sometimes. It’s a little different for everyone. Anyway, life can’t maintain a static state of perfection. We make an impact by shining and sharing our inner light despite all of that.
Your purpose is right there with you. Don’t worry, it’s not leaving, not going anywhere. Now, I believe what’s equally as important as defining our purposes is receiving our experience of life. Even if the map isn’t clearly detailed or some of the measurement units might be off, we’re here, fully on that adventure already. Some days we’ll enjoy more than others, some we’ll struggle more than others, but then one day you might find that in the midst of it all, you’ve stumbled into purpose looking back on it all.
Let’s take a small detour – maybe you can share a bit about yourself before we dive back into some of the other questions we had for you?
My name is Ally Gong and I’ve explored and pursued many creative fields in the past few decades. I’m a writer and an artist. I’m a dreamer and a doer. I’m an entrepreneur and a creative career coach. I share my stories and writing through various intersecting forms of multimedia. I work in startups in marketing, digital strategy, and leadership. I coach women on how to embrace and own their unique creativity into their identity and lifestyles, helping them fully tap into their inspired inner light at all times. I do a lot of things, and I am a lot of things. My creative identity is multi-dimensional and constantly unfolding. That used to stress me out but now I embrace my ever-giving chaos. My purpose is to inspire others to live their biggest, most creatively fulfilled lives, and to support all who want to manifest their inner dreams.
As I look forward to announcing more exciting ventures of mine in 2024, I extend an invitation for you to join me. Let’s connect, share, and thrive as we navigate purpose together. My story, like yours, is still being written. Let’s embrace this journey and inspire each other to live lives filled with purpose, creativity, and endless possibilities.
Books:
LA baby is my poetry debut about my coming-of-age college years in Los Angeles as a UCLA student, signed agency model, and dreamer.
You can buy it here: https://amzn.to/40r2vzb Isolation (Modern Manifesto) is a poetic exploration of mental health, grief, and social media, documented through the lens of 2020, the year COVID hit the world and changed society: https://www.amazon.com/Isolation-Modern-Manifesto-Ally-Gong/dp/B08RX65H12
Social Media:
My Youtube channel: https://www.youtube.com/@allyinspires
My Instagram: https://instagram.com/allygong
My website to stay in touch with upcoming projects and launches: www.allygong.com
Products: Me and my sister’s e-commerce brand for loungewear and sleepwear designed for girls and women:
Babeboxers https://babeboxers.com/
Customizable allyinspires diamond ring (designed by Ally in collaboration with Priority Diamond): https://priority-diamond.com/collections/piccola-stela/products/ally
Coaching:
Work with me as your creative and life coach to unlock the next level of your creative potential. New spots are opening up in 2024 and beyond. Learn more and sign up here: www.allyinspires.com.
If you had to pick three qualities that are most important to develop, which three would you say matter most?
Executive strategic planning. The ability to break a big goal or vision into smaller steps. The ability to realize where at any given point in your life you can make substantial progress, or where you might need to pause and revisit in pursuit of a better opportunity or timing. I find that one of the best ways of learning this is through experimentation and building your own framework of prioritization as you navigate life.
Marketing and branding. Creating something amazing and of value is wonderful in and of itself. But in an attention-fueled economy, you have to make use of every shot to make sure you’re communicating your creation in the most accurate and resonant way. Marketing and branding can be learned by observing and absorbing content put out by great marketers and brands, and of course formal or informal study and experimentation.
Communication. It’s a wonderful world we live in where new dimensions are explored through breaking edges of technology, media, and visual art. However, I believe simple human communication and the sharing of core ideas are still at the heart of everything. I think writing is both a skill and an art. Same for communication. Working on my writing and spoken communication skills has been crucial for me in my development.
Tell us what your ideal client would be like?
My perfect client wants to jump into a creative pursuit or career, (modeling, acting, music, visual arts, etc.), start a social media brand or business (YouTube channel, website or blog, TikTok, Instagram), start a local or digital business, create or publish artwork, launch a brand, start a new creative hobby outside of their comfort zone, or better understand and be able to connect to their creativity in a way that feels fulfilling.
My ideal client is someone who comes to me and says: “I’ve had a desire towards this creative goal, and I know it might sound ridiculous or far-fetched but…” In response, I say, “I fully believe that we can get there” and from there, we work together on setting the right goals, foundational mindsets, and plans and developing the resiliency required to reach audacious but highly rewarding goals. My ideal client radiates positive energy and possesses a mindset ripe for growth, eager to collaborate on their transition into a more profound state of creative expression.
My ideal client has a creative vision or idea of what they want, but might not know how to produce it or act on these creative inner dreams tangibly. Art, creation, and things of vision take time and sustained effort, and it can often feel overwhelming without the right resources or network, especially for someone who hasn’t yet gone through the process of bringing something from zero to one. I coach you through this process and help you tap into your full creative potential to unlock inspired and transformative breakthroughs. My perfect client is either a dreamer or a doer, who wants to learn how to incorporate both into the identity of a dreamer and a doer who makes awesome creative things happen!
Contact Info:
- Coaching Website: www.allyinspires.com
- Blog: www.allygong.com
- Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/ally
gong - Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/allyg
ong - Linkedin: https://www.linkedin.com/compa
ny/3844907/admin/feed/posts/? feedType=following - Twitter: https://twitter.com/allygong?l
ang=en - Youtube: https://www.youtube.com/@allyi
nspires - Other: https://babeboxers.com/
Image Credits
Leo Trajano Ed Tran Christopher Lee
