We are well into 2022 and seeing as many of us start our New Year journey wanting to be fitter and healthier people, we have compiled a list of some of the influential people in the Wellness industry around. We spoke to some of the Hong Kong’s top wellness influencers to find out how they got inspired to start their wellness journey and their top tips to keep a happy and ritzy life, from therapist Sonia Samtani to psychotherapist Allison Heiliczer, holistic health solution coach Dee Oh to wellness influencer Utah Lee.
Founder of All About You Wellness Centre, Sonia Samtani
1. Can you tell us more about yourself and your background?
I am a speaker, an author, a therapist, a trainer, and more recently labelled as a ‘wellpreneur’. I have been in mental health for 16 years. I’ve had the privilege of working with over 20,000 people, and seen some magical shifts and medical miracles in the results. I’ve also seen how people have transitioned from the taboo surrounding mental health to being more open now than ever before. I started working in wellness in my early twenties, and this has been the only industry I have ever worked in. My inspiration came from a series of early life events that curbed my confidence, which led me to introspect and question life, and finally heal my own wounds. I understood that all issues are created with the mindset of judgment, and all healing involves accepting what we have judged before. I am on a conscious journey with a mission of inspiring people to move from judgment to acceptance.
2. What inspires you to start the All About You Center?
All About You Wellness Centre came into existence very organically as I was growing professionally. I started off as a solo-practitioner seeing private clients for therapy, then created my own workshops, and then I took on a franchisee that allowed me to train people to become certified hypnotherapists. As I was growing in my own journey I naturally began to need a space to practice from. As people started to refer friends, I couldn’t do it all myself so I began to host other therapists to spread the work and grew a team. My centre is the bi-product of a bigger mission to empower individuals with simple yet powerful tools to navigate through the ups and downs of life with awareness and acceptance. I hope to provide a space where people feel safe to reveal their deepest truths, heal their deepest pains, and experience a profound sense of transformation.
3. How do you make yourself happy and ritzy in life?
I would say peace is more sustainable than happiness. Happiness is an emotion, and like most emotions it will be transient. Peace is sustainable, and we can even be peaceful as we go through our natural highs and lows. To have peace we need to accept that life will continue to have it’s ups and downs, and that we have enough inner-trust and resources to ride through all of it!
Read more: Ritzy Chat: Founder of All About You Wellness Centre, Sonia Samtani
Founder of Rethink The Couch, Allison Heiliczer
1. Could you tell us a bit about your background?
I was born and raised in New York City until the age of 16. At that time, I moved to California to finish high school. I started working with a remarkable Japanese family, Chino-san, on a farm interacting with people from around the world. I knew it was my life’s calling to one day actually live in Asia and be a therapist. I moved to Hong Kong 11 years ago and consider Hong Kong my home. I’ve had the privilege of supporting people here both in private practice and clinical settings and am delighted to now work full-time in my private practice, Rethink The Couch.
2. What leads you to the path of wellness?
My work is my calling. There are endless ways in this world to be of service to others, and I’ve found that being a therapist is the way I can most be. I am specific with the challenges I help support people with as I focus on relationship and work challenges; I endlessly believe in peoples’ power to transform. In essence, my path to wellness is a mystical, focused one.
3. What are your goals in 2022?
Starting in 2022, I’ve begun donating 10% of my profits to The Mekong Club in Hong Kong, an organization that works to end modern slavery in Asia. My goal is to help support others who are very much suffering and often don’t have access to support. When I started my private practice, I always knew I wanted my business to have a soul, one that aligns with my value system. 2022 is about reflecting this value system with clearer pathways to supporting others. In addition, this year I’ll be launching my podcast along with writing a book. I hope also to spend more time with my family and perhaps make this the year I finally teach myself how to run.
Founder of Dee Dream Life, Dee Oh
1. Can you tell us more about yourself and your background?
I am a Malaysian Chinese mixed with Thai, born in Malaysia, grew up in Brunei and migrated to Australia when I was a teenager. I moved to Hong Kong more than 7 years ago when I felt the calling to explore what this part of the world had to offer when I was offered another job in investment banking. A year after moving to Hong Kong, it became apparent that it was time for me kickstart my career as a coach at Dee Dream Life.
2. What’s the most adventurous thing you’ve done in your life?
Leaving a stable career in banking to pursue something that I had never done before in coaching! I sought out a more personally fulfilling profession that would add value to others’ lives, while maximising my own potential.
3. With your personal experience in recovering from mental health challenges, how do you make yourself happy and ritzy in life?
Always trying to see the light of every situation and laugh a lot. My partner helps me with this too as he is very light hearted and cannot help but crack a joke always in any situation, no matter how grim. I think not taking life and ourselves too seriously is very important to keep oneself happy and ritzy! In the wise words of one of my gurus, “To be enlightened, is to lighten up!”
Read more: Ritzy Chat: Founder of Dee Dream Life, Dee Oh
Nike Master Trainer, Utah Lee
1. Could you tell us a bit about yourself and your background?
The first part of my career was in the garment industry, in merchandising, design and production. I was also a fashion designer for 6 years and later on created a fashion jewellery line as well as designed for a fashion chain for 7 years. I started working in the fitness industry in 1999 in Hong Kong’s first fitness chain and that changed my life. I became the first Nike Trainer in 2000, since then, we have been making fitness history for women in Hong Kong.
2. What does your typical day look like?
Mostly depends on if I need to go out for classes, events or other engagements. I’m a freelancer so I work out my own schedule. If I don’t need to go out, I’ll shoot fitness and lifestyle videos or photos for my social media. On Sundays, I try to spend time with my family.
3. Could you give us some tips to stay healthy with a busy schedule?
Regular exercise – set time for yourself to accomplish that. Get your friends involved so you would have fewer chances to get out of it.
Eat relatively healthy – we need to enjoy life, eat well and it’s okay to have a cheat day in a week
Stay on the bright side – think positively, try your best on anything you do
Be kind, think about others – this is for your soul.
Read more: Ritzy Chat: The Nike Master Trainer and fashion, jewellery designer, Utah Lee
Co-founder of Voltage PR, Coco Alexandra
1. Could you tell us a bit about yourself and your background?
I’m Coco Alexandra and wear many different hats in life. I co-founded one of Hong Kong’s top digital and communications agencies Voltage PR 7 years ago. Now I dedicate most of my time towards being a mom to my energetic toddler as well as serving clients in supporting their spiritual and personal growth as a Soul Coach, certified Flourishing Life Coach & Trainer and Intuitive Healer.
2. What led you to the path of wellness and spirituality?
As a little girl, I’ve always been open to the world of the spirit realm but shut it off due to fear programming. In my early 20s, I ended up in the hospital due to chronic anxiety that brought me back onto the path of my spiritual awakening. I searched high and low for alternative healing modalities to heal my childhood wounds. I found aromatherapy and it literally saved my life.
3. As a coach, you hold space for others in their healing journey. How do you stay in a high vibrational state for your clients?
For me, always tuning deeply into what I’m feeling is important to know when to rest and when to pour back into myself. Taking care of myself through energy management and conscious lifestyle habits is key in maintaining a high vibrational state so that I am fully present when I hold space for clients.
Read more: Ritzy Chat: Co-founder of Voltage PR, Life Coach and Intuitive Healer, Coco Alexandra
