One Thousand Gurus Podcast
Everyone has a compelling story to tell with insights we can all be inspired by. J.R. Yonocruz is a software project manager, self-improvement blogger, relationship coach, dancer, stand-up comedian, and serial hobbyist with a passion for learning. He interviews unique guests from various fields to distill the strategies, habits, and mindsets we can use in our own lives. Each “guru” has a chance to give the audience a peek into a new world.
One Thousand Gurus Podcast
#8: Shirley Wu - Yelp Elite Foodie, Competitive Mindsets, and Building a 1st Place Team
What if your passion could turn into a platform that inspires countless others? Join us for an enlightening discussion with Shirley Wu, the dynamic co-founder of the SHERO Dance Team, as she shares her journey from growing up in the culturally rich San Gabriel Valley to establishing a thriving dance group. We reminisce about our shared experiences at K-pop dance competitions and how our diverse backgrounds in academics and competitive environments have shaped our paths. Beyond dance, we converse over our love for video games and culinary adventures, providing a multidimensional look at our lives. Lastly, we dive into what goes into forming and leading an organization that lasts.
Guest Bio:
Shirley Wu the co-founder and director of the creative Kpop Dance Team, SHERO, as well as co-founder of International Kpop Dance Association. She is an instructor at Offstage by GRV Dance Studio and has taught classes at KPC, YG Dance Studio, VibesLA, and more.
Socials/Links:
IG: @wushirley_j / @sherofficials
Website: www.sherofficials.com
Episode Links / Resources:
- GRV dance family (dance team - IG)
- Savoy Kitchen (Hainan Chicken Rice in SGV)
- Ji Rong Peking Duck (Restaurant)
- Black Myth: Wukong (video game)
- Kingdom Hearts (video game)
- Final Fantasy VII Rebirth (video game)
- Taeyang - “Wedding Dress” (K-Pop MV)
- SHERO K-Factor 2022 1st place set (performance)
One Thousand Gurus Podcast:
Everyone has a compelling story to tell with insights we can all be inspired by. J.R. Yonocruz is a self-improvement blogger, relationship coach, and serial hobbyist with a passion for learning. He interviews unique guests from various fields to distill the strategies, habits, and mindsets we can use in our own lives. Each “guru” has a chance to give the audience a peek into a new world.
www.onethousandgurus.com
Instagram: @OneThousandGurus
TikTok: @onethousandgurus
YouTube: One Thousand Gurus Podcast
Email: onethousandgurus@gmail.com
Hello everyone and welcome to another episode of 1000 Gurus. My name is Jerry YonakYruz and I'm your host for the show. So today's episode is featuring a friend of mine, shirley, and let me read her bio. Shirley Wu is co-founder and director of a creative K-pop dance team called SHERO. She's also the co-founder of International K-pop Dance Association International K-Pop Dance Association. She is an instructor at Offstage by GRV Dance Studio and has taught classes at KPC, yg Dance Studio, vibes, la and more.
J.R.:In this episode we cover a large range of topics, starting from her growing up in the San Gabriel Valley, aka the 626 area. We are both foodies, actually, so we chat a little bit about our experiences being Yelp Elite as well as some of our favorite video games, and then later we find out that we have some of the same major dance influences growing up and during our separate high school dance journeys. And then, lastly, we touch upon her starting the reputable SHERO Dance team with her co-founders and some of the challenges of starting a team and being leadership and kind of building that team. So it was a really good conversation. I thoroughly enjoyed it and it's always nice to connect with another leader of an organization to get their mindsets on things. So, without further ado, hope you enjoy this episode with the amazing Shirley Wu. All right, welcome to the show, shirley. Oh no, applause, applause, applause. I know all of our studio audience.
Shirley:It's fun.
J.R.:Cool. Well, thank you for being here. I really appreciate you taking out the time on this beautiful Saturday. I know you have some stuff afterwards, but yeah, it'll be fun. Yeah, this is my first time. Thank you for stuff afterwards, but yeah, it'll be fun.
Shirley:Yeah, this is my first time. Thank you for inviting me Of course, of course. I don't get a lot of experiences with podcasts. This is my first time, actually.
J.R.:Yeah, I think for most people, most of my guests, it's like their first or maybe second. Even myself I've been on two different podcasts, like during the pandemic with my girlfriend or blessing and I, but it was. That was pretty much it's like all zoom, so it's like never okay, okay, oh, it's pretty fun very nice, yeah, yeah.
J.R.:So it's a fun. It's a fun new experience for all of us. So let me just go straight into. Well, I've already read your bio for the audience, but let me just go into like how I know you. I remember when we first met, we were both competing in like k-pop dance competitions, like ikcf. Uh, that must have been like what, seven years ago, if not more like that, um, and you were in high school yes, that's actually my first time seeing you.
J.R.:I'm like oh, that's the guy who does flips yes, I'm the flip and then you're like, oh my god, this, this high school girl, is just killing it on stage. That was what our group was thinking um. So, yeah, we both competed and then, like, I followed your dance career since then and then you were also on GRV.
Shirley:So actually it was under the GRV company.
J.R.:Oh, right right.
Shirley:But I was under Groove, which is an adult training team.
J.R.:Yeah, yeah, yeah. And then, a few years back, you started SHERO, which is a creative K-pop dance team. Any other clarifications on that?
Shirley:It was just groove.
J.R.:Yeah, yeah, just that part I mean, I don't know if you guys know the audience groove is. It's not like a how do I say this? It's a very high-end team. If you see any groove dancers, they're pretty intense. And then seeing shirley and groove videos and performances and stuff like, oh yeah, that's that that fits, because shirley's a really good dancer, you'll see her ig and stuff like that. I wanted to just go into your origin story. We haven't really talked much. You know we're friends, but I wanted to get into your origin story, like where you grew up, what you've been up to, hobbies, influences, school background, career, stuff like that. You want to just walk us through what should I start with first?
J.R.:I don't know where'd you grow up? And main influences okay.
Shirley:so I grew up from san gabriel valley, known as, like the 66 area. Starting from from there, it's a very well growing up. It's kind of like a bubble. A lot of us is just, we grew up from the same traditions and cultures, so a lot of them is very Chinese American or just Asian American in general, but dominantly Chinese. So a lot of my friends, yeah, we grew up from the same traditions and then we have the same values. So it's also similar to the stereotype where you say, oh, the parents will be like you have to focus on studies, make sure you got to do well in school and don't get distracted. So it's similar to that. And then with school it's also pretty competitive. But for myself I wouldn't say I'm too competitive, but I did focus on studies.
J.R.:Like competitive academically. Yes, competitive academically.
Shirley:So it's always like the friends oh, what score did you Like competitive, academically, kind of like dead. But then a lot of people go there. There's a lot of tourists over there as well, especially this one street called valley boulevard. They even build a lot more hotels there too, mainly just a lot of well. It's also known for just chinese food and just the culture, and yeah so really quick with chinese, okay.
J.R.:So the first time I did go to san guerno valley I had my friend recommended hainan chicken rice. Oh yeah, so good. And I know there's a bunch of places and I've only been to a couple. But do you have any recommendations for any food in suv?
Shirley:well for hainan chicken. My, me and my parents. We always go to this place called eat. They're more I think it's malaysian or singaporean, but they're best known for the hainan chicken. I think another one was called savoy. That was like a classic one. And then well for me personally. My so visitors of or to San Gabriel. I usually tell them to go to G-Rong. I really like picking duck.
Shirley:So you know you get the wrap and you put the picking duck in it and then you like wrap it up and see that it's really nice I would say that one. It's also modern, but also very traditional, so it's like a good introduction for others to try it.
J.R.:Okay, okay, so I guess quick tangent while we're on the topic of food. So I know you're a Yelp elite, myself included. So how did you get into being a foodie, aside from your obvious enthusiasm for food?
Shirley:Yeah, and then what has it been?
J.R.:like since then.
Shirley:So me and my sisters, we actually really like to try new food places, Even actually even coming here, since I'm not really in long beach.
Shirley:that often so let's just find something new. So that's why I tried star bread, because I always see on tiktok, like all the senior youtube bread, uh, oh yeah, the question was, yeah. So then, um, for that, on yelp, I just like to type reviews, just actually for myself, because when I go back to the restaurant I want to see what items I actually like or dislike. So with Yelp reviews I talk about, you know, parking prices, how the vibe is like, how the food tastes, and once I come back to it I just see it's like, oh yeah, I remember, like, do this, I'll come back.
Shirley:And then after that I was recommended to join the elite squad and then from there I just got on it and after that I was selected to be on the Elite on Fire. That's like their new program thing, what is that? So I went to the last Yelp Elite event, which is like a Boba, boba, I don't know Event, yeah, and then they're saying, like the Yelp on Fire, it's the top 10 or top 5% of Yelp Elites in the area. So I was selected and then so with that, the perk is that you get to have main priority for all the elite events that you sign up for.
J.R.:So it's like another tier of nomination and then you get in and you get more front of the line for the Yelp elite.
Shirley:Yeah, oh okay, I think that's different every month too. Oh, okay, so you could be on fire for one length but not the next. I think it depends on how much reviews right. Right, that makes sense, yeah.
J.R.:So what is it like to be Yelp Elite for the audience? Maybe people who are you know it's crazy because I know we both use Yelp and I know like people are like oh, what do you recommend, jera? I'm like I don't know I just Yelp. So what is I?
Shirley:think it's really nice to hear about their backstories, for all the businesses, especially the small businesses too. But then for me, it's oh, it's free food Yay, and you get to. I like the perks that they also have too, with the free goodies. But it's really cool to try especially the new restaurants that they open up and they have the Yelp Elite. You get to taste a lot on their menus. For me, it's oh, I want to to. I like to order a lot of dishes, but I just want to try a little bit, right. So then, with the yuppa elite event is oh, you get to try this a little bit, this, a little bit this, and oh, this is really nice yeah.
J.R.:So it's for people don't know. When you join yuppa elite and you either get nominated or you apply for it and then a community manager like reviews your profile and they're like, okay, like this person's active and they have good reviews and photos. So then when you join, like you get a newsletter every so often of here are the events, or you can go onto their event site and be like here's yelp elite, elite events and then you rsvp and then if the community manager, if you get in and they select you for that event, then you can go and there's a lot of free food and sometimes it's not just food, sometimes it's I don't know. I went to this like mattress pillow thing and then like they give us free pillows that was a long time ago or like the end of the year ones where sometimes there's like these big events, where it's like all these vendors and you get so full and you can even take some stuff home like regular food, drinks and alcohol sometimes. Um, yeah, like they throw these crazy, like it's really good perks.
J.R.:I always recommend people to do it um, I heard for that event someone got a mattress oh really give away a mattress oh, I'm sure it was like a giveaway or something like that yeah, I think for most of us we got at least like the pillow. But yeah, there was a raffle for like a mattress, yeah, and that's like $800 yeah it's crazy. I've been trying to tell Blessy to do more Yelp like reviews so she can get in even the. I let in Blessie for the last event and you know she's writing reviews.
J.R.:still I'm like, I'm always telling her like we can have free food for two people or free food for one person and then split it.
Shirley:Exactly. Oh my God. Yeah, I think that's also you knew, steven. Yeah, so he's my boyfriend, and then he tried to get onto Yelp Elite too, but then so he on another review and then, but he, I would say the one thing about Yelp Elite is that you need to be consistent with reviews. He would just write one whole story for one restaurant and then he might not yeah, I'm like you should continue and he would just forget it.
J.R.:Yeah, that's same with Blessy too, she's like oh, I wanna I don't go to a place. I'm like, yeah, you do. And she because I. The thing is like, whenever we get something, I normally can't finish all of it by myself. So I'm like, oh, do you want some of it? And I'm like, you know we could be having two of these, but now we just have one that's right but yeah oh bless you, get on it whenever you see her, just kind of nudge her like hey I'm sorry after this, yeah, hey did you have any reviews today?
J.R.:let's see, do you have any? I know neither of us work for Yelp, but what are some tips to become a Yelp elite?
Shirley:Main thing consistency. I think it doesn't matter how lengthy it should be, as long as you have the main points, like how it tastes. It does actually say on the top where you write the reviews, it says ambiance.
J.R.:I forgot the other two Quality food or something.
Shirley:Yeah, something like that.
J.R.:I do those three. I do like price service and like quality or something like that. Yeah, they have like ambiance and stuff like that which I think makes sense, because think about if you were going to restaurant. What do you want to see? What is the vibe like, or what is the prices like, or what's the food like?
Shirley:yep, I think as long as you hit those points and it doesn't have to be too long, but then just keep writing reviews for several restaurants and you're good. Yeah, definitely okay, cool.
J.R.:So, aside from being a big foodie, do you have any other hobbies outside of, obviously, dance? That we'll touch on.
Shirley:Other hobbies let's see, I do have my dog. So if I'm not really posting about dance, I post pictures of my dog with that. So there's, yeah, I go to the dog, I just dog parks and then gym. And then, let's see, I do play a lot of video games and then what video games are you playing? Right now. Recently I've been playing Wukong.
J.R.:Oh, wukong, I saw… I keep seeing clips of it. How is it so?
Shirley:frustrating. It's like fun, but not fun. Okay, because it's fun, you want to continue, you gotta kill it, but it's not fun because you keep dying.
J.R.:Oh, so it's like really challenging.
Shirley:It's really challenging. I actually never really tried something like that, so then when I first experienced it, I'm like, oh, I get it, it's annoying, but yeah, okay, it's really fun.
J.R.:The only thing I know about it, aside from clips, is that it's like a one-player game and it's like an adventure type game. Yeah, but is it like a Final Fantasy where you have to grind and level up and stuff, or is?
Shirley:it more story-based, I would say it grinding okay, you have to get the specific items you have to. I think it's ability points. So you have to acquire these ability points. Who will always take advantage of the next bosses? But yeah, but I am actually a really big fan of final fantasy yeah, like kingdom hearts.
J.R.:Oh my gosh, I'm such a huge fan too. I haven't played any of the recent ones because I've been like on a I'm sober from video games for six years six years yeah, at least because yeah, but it's my guilty pleasure. I could play for hours.
Shirley:Oh, what's the last game you played?
J.R.:The last game I played was Red Dead Redemption 2. Oh, wow, and that took me like two months from start to finish, Not fully complete, but after that I was like okay, I got to stop. Because, it's just so much time and I have other things I need to do games are my guilty pleasure.
Shirley:What do you play on ps5? Oh, ps5, okay. Yeah, see, I also need a ps5, yeah, so with that, I guess the most recent, or most favorite recent, it would be final fantasy 7 rebirth. There's so much to do in that game, and then also it's like I played 80 plus hours on it.
J.R.:Oh my gosh, yeah and when I played kingdom hearts in high school, I must have I maybe I'm inflating it, but at least like 80, 100 hours or something like that. I don't even know if that's a lot, if that's a little, I don't know Because it was a long time ago, but I remember like, okay, before I go to college I'm just gonna just play all these games, and then just put it away, but yeah, so fun.
Shirley:Wait, which one.
J.R.:It was. No, it was not. That was before the third one came out. So it's only one and the second one yeah. So I haven't even touched the third one, even though it came out during college, I think for me.
Shirley:Oh so you don't know about the story.
J.R.:No, not really, but I love the world and everything.
Shirley:Yeah, High key. The story is very confusing.
J.R.:No, for real. Before the third one came out, I was following the other games and stuff like that.
Shirley:Wait what is going on? There's like Aqua. Yeah yeah, it's like what.
J.R.:There's like the DDS games or something like that, oh yeah. Those. Yeah. Yeah. So I was like let me just watch a playthrough or the summaries and stuff, because I'm like I'm not going to get to it.
Shirley:Yeah, and the whole Kingdom Hearts war about that. It's like what's going on?
J.R.:It's like it kind of, it's kind of hard to um. Okay, quick, another pivot before we change our main topic. So like where did you go to school, what did you study? And like what is your career now? Because actually I don't know high school or college or college and then, yeah, career, I don't know okay, well, I went in san gabriel.
Shirley:I went to gabriel into high school, as well as one of the new york high schools during that time, and then after that I went to ucr university of californide and that so I majored in business econ Actually. So my family has their own business. We do a kitchenware wholesale products, so we have our warehouse in Pomona which we sell to different vendors. As long as you have a business license, we sell everything by bulk and we also sell to others out of state too. So with that, well, honestly, my initial dream was I want to be a K-pop idol, and so I was really focused on, you know, dancing and other oh yeah, I need to try to sing, and after that. So then during the time in college, my sister was like, you need to pick a major. So then it was business econ and I already knew where I was going to end up in, which is working for my family. So then that's what I'm doing right now.
J.R.:Okay, so it's like family business then, yes, sorry, do you have siblings? I?
Shirley:have two older sisters.
J.R.:Okay, so do they also work business or do they do other stuff?
Shirley:My second sister was also a business econ. She actually worked with us for the family for a little bit and then she had to move to NorCal. And then my oldest sister she works for an accounting firm in LA.
J.R.:Okay, cool, cool. So is the plan just to take over the family business? Keep doing that, or do you have any other side aspirations or anything?
Shirley:Yeah, so then? Well, they're currently near retirement, so once they do plan on retiring, they will lend the business down to me. For me personally, I am scared to try it, but then I mean I'm open to it, and then I do want to continue the business.
J.R.:I want to see how it goes, maybe for a few years, and then see from there Okay, cool, so what aspect of the business do you do? I'm curious Like, yeah, what do you do? And like I don't know if there are any challenges or stuff like that warehouse workers, and then for me it's bare chill. Okay, that's cool.
Shirley:I do have a lot of time during the day that I can also work on SHERO, a lot of documents or like organization, but other than that it's just be taking phone calls or taking orders or handling. The website Also recently recreated the product catalog. It'll also be taking product photography and editing. It's kind of pretty much. Since I'm the only um or english speaker there, I have to handle more of the cross communication stuff.
J.R.:Yeah, okay, that makes sense. Okay, on that topic. So now we'll get to k-pop dance and everything like that. So what is your? So I know you just mentioned that you know your initial dream was like to become a k-pop idol. So what's like your dance background? And then how'd you get into K-pop?
Shirley:Dance background Okay, okay, so okay, from the very, very beginning in middle school, I started with seawalking Because everyone started doing it oh, this is cool. So I learned how to seawalk. And then after that, I saw America's Best Dance Crew walk, and then after that I saw america's best dance crew. And then I saw java walkies and I'm like, wow, they're so cool too. And they started doing baby mills. Oh my gosh, I want to learn that too.
Shirley:So then that's when I started breaking yeah, and then after that yeah, I, um, I did that maybe for three, three years okay in middle school, high school high school.
Shirley:So middle school was sea walk and then later it was like high school, I was starting to do breaking. So then I did find a group of friends and they would have like sessions. They would bring out, you know, the cardboard and just put on the floor, go outside the plaza or something, and we started like freestyling or sessioning. So this is that. And then taeyang's wedding dress dropped and I'm like, wow, this is cool too. So I'm like, wow, I'm gonna learn how to dance k-pop. So I learned the choreography for wedding dress and then I saw girls generation like, oh my god, they're so cute and pretty. I was like, oh, I need to learn that too. So after that is when I started the k-pop journey.
Shirley:Okay, so then, no break dancing anymore no, no not really but then I think the most recent thing I did was maybe last or last last year, my friend Subin. She asked me to do one of the videos for Street Woman Fighter and then one of them required breakdancing and so I was like, oh okay, I guess I should do something. She wanted me to fill in that spot, so I had to pull up you know some stick step, I don't know some coffee grinder, that stuff. And then, it's funny, like in the comments it was like oh, there's an actual B-girl in this.
Shirley:I was like oh, that's nice. My breaking experience paid off?
J.R.:Did you learn from people or did you have like teachers or you just kind of like friends and you kind of just learn stuff as you go, like from videos?
Shirley:Yeah. So back then for me I was self-taught for everything. My middle school life is I played a lot of Maple Story. That was my second life. It'll be coming back from school. I just go on Maple play with my friends, grind and everything After that is for dancing. For these type of hobbies I would feel bad for asking my parents I need to pay for something to learn From YouTube. Everything is free. So then I look, I looked up like tutorials it's one of those how tocom or how to dance things. So then they'll be like oh, you need to learn. You do this step, step, woo kind of thing. So I learned everything from youtube, from actually from middle school to, I would say, college.
J.R.:Yeah, all from just seawalk, breaking, k-pop, everything nice I feel like we have similar election points right, because so my friends and I also, we kind of just freestyled and learned as we go from videos and stuff like that. And then wedding dress came out too, and I was like no, sorry, jabberwockies in for me for high school and I swear to you, like when I graduated senior year, my friend and I we would sign all of our like yearbooks as like JR from Javawockeez wow, like we were so into.
J.R.:We had the shirts, the outfits and, like the, masks. Oh yeah, the hijazoo yeah, so we would.
J.R.:That was like. My senior year was just like just being. Javawockeez um so that was like they started me on the path of like dancing. That's why I wanted to go to SoCal and like dance with the SoCal scene. And then my first year is when Wedding Dress came out and my friend sent it to me and like within seven seconds I closed the browser because I'm like this guy's too good, I can't watch this. Wow I eventually watched it later, but then and then Girls' Generation as well. Wow, it was like those same points.
Shirley:Oh my gosh, wait, you're not from SoCal, no, I yeah from the Bay, yeah.
J.R.:So, born and raised 18 years until I went to UCI, and then I've been down here since.
Shirley:Oh wait, what city in NorCal, fremont.
J.R.:Are you from the area?
Shirley:Oh, that's where Steven's kind of from.
J.R.:I think you know… Wait, mission, did he go to Mission Mission, what school did he go to he?
Shirley:went to UCI too.
J.R.:No, but like high school asian, he went to mission because, oh, I'll ask him, yeah, because half my friends went there.
J.R.:But yeah, so yeah, yeah, bay area, and they just went to uci and they started dancing since then oh, so we're inspired from the dancing yeah, no, because like jabalaki's in couple modern and I was like well, couple modern's at uci, so I should go to uci um exactly, and I only went to socal for dance, wow it was just like okay, my, I had a friend who also went to UCI, but then I knew Cabo Modern was here and I also knew that other teams, like CG was here and like other teams, but yeah, so, like everyone was down there and I know that I heard that the dance scene in SoCal was crazy at the time. So I'm like, okay, might as well studying whatever. Did your family know that? Yeah, yeah, no, they're super supportive. They're like, yeah, just do what you want.
J.R.:And I was like, okay, just do your best. Oh, that's good, yeah, um, but anyways, yeah, so dancing. So how did you get so? Okay, so we went, you like dance, and then you did all these styles and you got to k-pop. How did you get like? How did you find like groove and then get into that scene and like, um, like choreo or urban or modern dancing?
Shirley:uh, with that, I think at some point I just got tired of k-pop dance. It was getting very, I would say, a bit repetitive. I kind of want to try something new and I would say, with k-pop dance it's very like in a box you don't get to expand as much as a dancer, because I feel like k-pop is more about just performance. That was back then, but now it's a lot harder. Now, right, but then so then there's that, and then there was group and it was the I think it was their first gen that they were trying out for, and so I was like oh, let me just try it and I just did it for fun, and so I ended up.
Shirley:Well, actually it was really hard for me, but I, I got it, but it's hard you know, yeah, because then for me it's like I never really did anything else besides k-pop or like self self-teaching dance. So with brew it was like everything was really fast paced. I'm like oh, I can't take my time, you know, with the videos I can't just pause it or I just can um rewind it back, but it was like really like eye-opening experience so how was it like adjusting to that?
J.R.:I know you just said like it was hard because it was like a higher pace, but for anyone who knows, like cover dancing, you can kind of go at your own pace, like what shirley said. But when you get to comp level dancing or even like grv or groove level dancing, that's like all these dances been dancing for years and they've been trained. They dance like they have the best mentors. So like, how did that? How did you make that jump? Because I mentioned that's really difficult from just cover dancing and then b-girling and stuff it was challenging.
Shirley:But then for me personally it did help me a lot because I didn't really have a lot of foundations with dance because everything was just from like video, so a lot of it.
Shirley:They also then they would have uh different teachers who like teach their own piece and then once you teach that piece, it's like yet to they test your pickup, execution, uh, textures. You do learn a lot but like also like how to freestyle and other different foundations of style. So then with that it's like they teach a piece and then the next week you have to practice it kind of throughout the week. And then they do like groups where they have their original choreographer. They will watch you and then they'll give you notes after that. So then it's more like you learn a piece and then you practice on your own and then prepare for groups. So for that I practice a lot, because then I don't know for me, if I don't practice I'm going to feel terrible about myself. But then it did really help me a lot. I did learn a lot in how they taught me how to see different things in dance. So that really expanded my knowledge of just in general of how to dance.
J.R.:So there's a lot of structure, mentorship and the process to grow with dancers, with the feedback loops and then people just practicing at that like level of standards okay, yeah, that sounds pretty intense, but I mean, if you have ever seen like a groove or grv or any of those pieces, you can tell that like people work really, really hard when they're part of those teams especially so they do have like their showcases where you or the other uh teams like grv or gravy even like watching the first time watching gravy.
Shirley:Oh my god, they're so good little kids the little kids. I feel like they're actually like they're just like so small and they work or they move so so much more quicker. I feel like they also pick up faster, because then I feel like they're soaking choreography even better. Yeah, the sponges, yeah.
J.R.:You know it's funny because for most people seeing little kids dance is very inspiring. For me it's very demotivating. I'm like I don't even dance. These little five-year-olds dance way better than I do.
J.R.:I know they're so good. That's also the reason why, like when I've gone to Japan a few times and I'm like I swear I'm not going to dance, because my worst fear is like some four year old comes out of nowhere and starts like if I dance, then they start battling me and then I lose to a four year old Japanese kid and I'm like God damn it, I'm not dancing anymore.
Shirley:Oh my. God.
J.R.:So, like, little kids demotivate me, but they inspire everyone else. Cool, all right. So let's move on so dancing. And then you were wait, so how long did you do groove for?
Shirley:I think they started around 2018 17. I was there for about 2 years so then for that. So it was after college and then I joined groove and then I was there for just about 2 years, and then that's when COVID happened and that's when they had to like kind of shut everything down. It's all no more practices, no more meetups. And after that I was going. I wanted to continue group too, but then after that it's all. Now I'm kind of like so when, when pandemic happened, it does get boring. It's all you do miss dancing with friends, and so that's how we started SHERO.
J.R.:I was just about to ask all right, so then, how did SHERO come about? So what was the idea, the inspiration? And I know you just said, okay, there was covid and I want to dance with people, so maybe that's part of it. But so how did SHERO come about?
Shirley:yes, so then. So I would dance. I think when you dance a certain style for me I get bored of it. So after that, oh. So then once, getting into just hip-hop and that type of choreography, I kind kind of got. I like, oh, I miss K-pop. Before it was like, oh, I'm tired of K-pop. It's like, oh, no, I miss K-pop. It's like a relationship. Yeah. It's like, oh, take a break. Oh, I miss you, I know. So then, oh, I'm tired.
Shirley:Into Linda. Linda's like a high school friend of mine and she's also a co-founder of SHERO. That's we. Oh, there's so many directions, go ahead. So Linda is like one of my high school friends too. So that we oh no, we actually met in middle school and then we were like the only nerdy ones who liked K-pop Before K-pop. But so it's like me and linda's, oh, her favorite was shiny and my favorite was girls generation. I also, we talked a lot about k-pop during that time. So after that, okay, wait back to group. So then we are. I bumped into her during a practice, so she was on grv and then oh, hey, and then we kind of rekindled after that and then I saw the competition. I'm like, oh, hey, linda, let's do this competition together. So then and then she knew some friends and then we just kind of gathered together and then we uh started that we entered that competition together. Uh, I think there was also like sola, I think chorus also performed okay, which was like some chinese new year thing in singapore.
Shirley:I think ellen and brian also judged oh, did they?
J.R.:okay, I'm now in my head, I'm thinking what did we do there?
Shirley:I think Solar did some AT song Because I remember this was 2020?, 2019?, 2019? 2019 or 2019?. I want to say they did a song Is that NCT, nct.
J.R.:Maybe, yeah, anyways.
Shirley:But yeah, I remember seeing them and I was like, oh no. But I remember seeing them and I was like oh, oh no, because we were like just you know, just random dancers, we're not like part of the community yet you know, like, oh my God, I was like, oh, they're going to compete. I was like oh no. And then after that. So then we did place third and we're like, oh wow, people liked us so. And then we just talked about it after Okay, so what if we make this like legit and stuff? And then a few months later we're like, oh okay, let's just start a channel, let's see what happens. So that's where it came about. And then later it was when COVID happened Everything started shutting down and then during the time, some friends wanted to still gather and make covers. So that's what we just made, covers for fun.
J.R.:And then it kind of just went on from there. Okay, so Startup is like a project for this competition yep. And then from there like COVID happened, but then more people wanted to still do covers yep and then from there you guys made it like a legit like team team where, like you like, it's like an official roster or something like that.
Shirley:Yeah, a lot of it was just like trial. So we're like oh, let's just try it for fun and see what happens. And oh no, it's getting big. Oh we have to establish our name now. Oh, we have to establish this now. Oh, okay.
Shirley:So I mean like it's really good that it's like taking off like really well. So it did start from like the pandemic era and it did actually help us a lot because with the YouTube algorithm there was actually not a lot of people posting covers. So it did help us boost because we were the ones posting during the COVID time.
J.R.:That makes sense, taking advantage of the lull.
Shirley:Yeah.
J.R.:Nice. So I have a few different like questions. So what was it like? Kind of starting a team Just for context, like SHERO is like one of my favorite teams in Soka area and for this competition K-Factor they've placed first place twice right, which is unheard of. No one has ever done that Really and I don't think so. Can you tell me?
Shirley:I don't know.
J.R.:You guys have placed first twice and at least not consecutively. But what I was going to say yeah, linda's amazing too. Linda's like a crazy dancer. Again, if you see, like any videos on Instagram, she's insane. Linda and Shirley are like a crazy power duo.
J.R.:But I guess, starting a team like that, what was it like? I know you said during the pandemic and making covers, but what was it like establishing that structure? I think the spirit of the question is, as another leader and founder of different teams and projects, it's very tough because you have to kind of establish, like what your team is all about, what the vision or direction is, and then the culture, because then that also kind of dictates the people that you bring in and then how you enforce like policies or rules and things like that, because every team is built differently, just like every like a different company. So I guess what was the general idea for SHERO once you guys decided, okay, let's make an official team. And then what was? I don't say like struggles or challenges, but what was like that process, like building the team to where it is now?
Shirley:so then we do have another friend. Her name is veo, she's another co-founder of ours too and she actually used to run a studio in monterey park called md, so she also knew a lot about. She had a lot of team experiences and a lot of building. So during that time, unfortunately, I wasn't able to help a lot because my parents wanted me to be very cautious about seeing people. So it was mainly from the very beginning, it was a lot of with linda and vo, so a lot of them with the projects and mostly a lot of the members.
Shirley:We are so the founding members. A lot of us are full-time employees and we do value our time. So then we had to make practices very organized and scheduled. We go, okay, we have to start this time and at this time we need to have 10 minutes for verse one, 10 minutes for chorus or something. So we make a whole schedule for that and went to. We always have a goal for each practice chorus has to be done today, dance break has to be done today and we have to make it very efficient, maybe organized, because you know we have to work so the next day like 7 am or 8 am. With that structure a lot of us came from. We're kind of like similar age, that's why so we're a lot, much older than k-pop dance scenes. So we would, we would know how to arrange it and organize it scheduling and then so it'll be more efficient and for everyone too.
J.R.:So the structure it'll be like that and then did you have a specific vision as, like the founders of of SHERO, what you guys wanted to build it towards? And second thing is like, what type of culture did you want to build?
Shirley:Ah, so then for…. There's so many thoughts in my head. Yeah, go for it.
J.R.:I remember when you were telling me before, when I asked you that you wanted to be like a, you know, professional dance team that can do opportunities and kind of like, put themselves out there like that, which is why you put in…. One of the things I admire about SHERO is that you guys have a very like….
J.R.:I don't, the polish is not what I'm looking for, but very professional but also very high level image that you guys put forward, because you guys do a lot with like costumes, your filming like your like locations, dance quality performance. I think SHERO head and shoulders, like you guys, hold yourself to higher standards. As someone from the outside who admires you guys, that's what I see. And then, when I asked you about it, you're like yeah, we want to do, we want to put out work that we're proud of, but also have these opportunities and do them. Oh, yes.
Shirley:So then from the very beginning, when we were just a no-name it was at the very beginning it was be that our goal is to. We want to be respected by the dance community. Of course there's like choreo solo, a lot of many other and we want to be known and be recognized for our work and be up to that part too, as well as your team. So then from that we had to just kind of we did have to focus a lot on just like the YouTube algorithm. It's more like you have to have fast covers, how you have to be public. From there, we always had to try different things or different methods on YouTube to try to see how to be successful. And then that's when you have to see location change, you have to do maybe outfit change or just how fast you need to learn, because there's some cover dancers on the different stage they learn to dance on the night of and they post it the next day. So before then we were like, oh, we have to get this out as soon as possible, or maybe we should try like a 24-hour challenge, kind of like that. So from there it's like we really wanted to work hard just to be recognized by the other dance communities from the K-pop scene From there then that's when K-Factor happened.
Shirley:So then after that we did our first competition set and, surprisingly, we won first. And then so, me and Linda, we also valued a lot for original choreography, especially when covers, they do get very limited on dance execution. So we want to also expand our creativity and showcase what others, what we can do too. So from there we just wanted to build a reputation, reputation that was like our first one or two years and after that it's all now, slowly we're be, we're getting recognized, and that's when we're hoping to get more opportunities and just grow. So right now we're just working as hard as we can so we can get even more opportunities and working with maybe like businesses or labels and get like better collapseabs too. So that's what we wanted to do for SHERO.
J.R.:Nice, I like that. So it's like first, like few years, was developing yourselves as a team and having developing their reputation, putting out that quality and forming the team, and then after that sounds like opportunities and kind of continuing that growth from there. What is, do you guys have a vision for the future of SHERO? Like, how long do you plan on doing it? Forever or stepping back a certain time? I don't want to worry yeah members.
J.R.:I'm not sure he's leaving, like next year or anything like that, but what is the longer term vision for SHERO?
Shirley:as of well, in terms of leadership, as of right now right, it's just currently me and vo it's mainly us two working for, or just managing the entire team.
Shirley:Right now, we're currently about like 30 members, but maybe that's crazy actually yeah, but then our founding members they're actually like maybe out of state, because then there's some of our like still in school or they're just too far away to actually do covers now, and then some is like so, vo, and then we have another member who's there from our. They're located in se now, but they still work a lot of things remotely. She'll still work on like graphics or YouTube channel, so they still put a lot of effort into that and then currently for that, wait. Sorry, I think I went away from the topic again oh good, okay, you touched on something like that.
J.R.:You said there's, you have founding members who help out, and it's you and VO, would you say that is like the roster for your leadership yes, just two of us right now that's crazy, because for a team of 30 or something like that for Coros, we usually have around like low to like mid to high 30s, but our l ship is consistently, if we want to do a good job, at least six people, and now we're up to 11, and even then it's so hard to wrangle so many different people so like I commend you guys for doing it with two people and then obviously help, um.
J.R.:So I wanted to ask so, how is it like dealing with the you know that number of team? Like, do you have any challenges or things yet to overcome? And I know, to step back from that too, I know that for some context, a lot of teams that I know of, like project teams or regular teams, they start off as like a group of high school friends or college friends, and it's not the same as you guys are like oh, we're all working, so we need to be really efficient and organized, and so that's what I think also makes you guys stand out is that there's that efficiency there. But like, how did you go about like challenge or tackling, like the idea of what kind of culture you want to build, and or managing 30 plus people?
Shirley:I think so after having our first year of auditions. That's when we started opening up. So then the very founding team it's we're all like full-time employees, so we're all used to being very scheduled. And then once we open, opened it to auditions, that's where we got younger people. So then it's like maybe like college students or maybe like even high school students. So then once we did so with auditions, we became also more selective with also dance skill.
Shirley:And then after the auditions we do have an interview with them. So we ask them about their background, like their schedule, or like how do you or how would you think about like different scenarios, or maybe say, if you're able, if you're not able to get this role, like how would you feel? Or well, during competitive competition season, maybe we'll even practice even longer hours how would you feel, kind of thing. So we give them a whole bunch of questions to see and how they would react. So we also check their like personality and see and maybe if they also fit well with us, if they're able to work best with this time of the time we schedule during our practices.
J.R.:Okay, how about? I mean, you guys still produce a lot of different covers and I know it's just not you two like running the show, so I'm assuming there's some sort of level of empowerment, you know, allowing people to lead their own covers and produce themselves, like, is that what you kind of focus on? Is okay let us give them like the tools and skills to lead their own covers, so you're not having to do everything. Or is there some? Sort of in-between of how that works.
Shirley:Somewhat we. So for new leaders, we actually just we have our own handbook and we send it to them and they're like okay, as a cover. So our position is there's a cover leader, a dance leader or maybe a practice leader. Cover leader organizes everything. Dance leader checks the cleaning for the dance, and then just that. And then sometimes I would have to come in and say or tell them or check how they're doing. So then with the dances, oh, if they're not as precise enough or they should drill more things, oh, I would let them know. And we also um well, I'll also be monitoring on how everyone practices everyone's practices are. So then, if they're maybe there's something just not as close to the choreo, then I'll let them know and they'll maybe should take notes of this person, or if their performance facials is might not be up to par, we also let them know. Oh, yeah, maybe be aware of this person and see how they're doing. And then, yeah, mainly those are the two crucial roles for the cover. So it's just cover leader and dance leader.
Shirley:And from there, if they do their first project, then they'll be more experienced with the next future projects. Okay, cool.
J.R.:So then you have the cover leader and the dance leader, but you might do some like quality control, dance wise, and like step in if needed. Yes, gotcha, what are some of the like biggest or biggest challenge for leading and running a team like this? Do you have any that come to mind? Uh, is it just super?
Shirley:easy for you. It's like it's not it's not easy.
Shirley:Well, okay, honestly, for me, I never thought of myself to be in a leadership role. I well, I would say, to be as a good leader, you need to have a team that trusts you and to have a very a voice, that that everyone can follow you. But then, for me, I am like very soft-spoken, I'm so introverted and even for this, for public speaking, it makes me so nervous. And then for that, so then for SHERO, I got put onto leadership.
Shirley:So then, from there is that the most challenging thing for me is just the mental barrier. So it's more, oh, I have to keep practicing, I have to be more firm. Sometimes you don't have to be, or you can't be too nice with that. So then from there is oh, you have to push other people, maybe you have to be clear with what you say, or you can't just beat around the bush and maybe they won't get to the point, but in the end you have to be very firm. So there was just a lot of things that I learned being as a leader, especially since I'm not used to that type of environment.
J.R.:But then from SHERO, as, oh, I learned a lot from this experience yeah, what do you think motivates people to be engaged and do like really high quality work? I think one of one of the one of the challenges I think with leadership is like leadership will always care more because it's like the ownership of the team right, but how do you create a team or inspire that sort of motivation with each member that they want to be there and do good work and not just kind of lower their standards to something else? Like how do you maintain or encourage like standards and how do you like motivate your team?
Shirley:I think it's usually the results that we see. So I think, depending on the videos that get produced and see how they resulted in, so then maybe say if it's a K-pop and public cover, if it's fast, then it's wow, it's like $100,000 or something, and then like, wow, they kind of want to do something like that too, and especially with styling, we also do so, even with our outfits.
Shirley:We spend maybe averaged around like $100 for each cover. So then for that, and then people see our outfits like, oh, wow, we look really good. So then from there it's like, oh, people would want to be motivated so we can to do covers similar to that. So it'll be just the scenery, the dance quality, the styling and maybe also the videography too. So we often use our friend Irving there's also Irving and Jane, but they also do really high quality covers. So then we always tell them to help and then film and edit, so then everything would just look really nice and highly produced okay.
J.R.:So it's kind of like setting the standard of, okay, this is what our covers look like, it's high quality and high produced and then when you see the results of okay, it does well and or we like how it looks, you think that's like what motivates people to not only join SHERO but also to be motivated to produce those covers too. Nice, okay I like that. I think that's very insightful.
J.R.:Anything else on SHERO you want to cover with, like leadership or insights takeaways. I think the main focus, or at least for my show, is like what can we pass on to the audience Like, have you learned through the fire? Oh, that's very interesting.
Shirley:I didn't push yourself. For me it's like I need to push myself Because, yeah again, I never thought to be a leader, so this was a bit more handed to me. So I was like, oh, I have to do this more, I have to do this more, I have to do this more. So from there it's just pushing myself and challenging yourself to become a better version of yourself. So that was just a learning experience for me as a first year old.
J.R.:nice I love it. All right, I'm ready for rapid fire questions, sure cool. First one is the billboard question. So if you could have a billboard put up, a sign for millions of people to see, what would it say? Follow SHERO, good one. Yeah, definitely do that, is that it?
Shirley:Anything else? Yeah, just follow, perfect.
J.R.:What is your favorite failure or something challenging that you learned from, something that set you up for later success?
Shirley:Oh, yes For this one. Okay. Personally for me, I don't like to remember my failures. I like… W wipe it out format because if I keep remembering about it it's just gonna make me feel bad about myself, like minating on it. Yeah so, but I do, for all the experiences, I do learn from it and try something different. From there. It's just oh okay, I need to move on if I know what to do next. So it's just learning, and then I would know how to apply it to the next time gotcha.
J.R.:Yeah, I like that. Was there anything that stood out that you're like? You definitely learned a lot from that? Okay, the outcome wasn't what you wanted, but you're like okay, well, the good outcome is that I learned how to do this better, or something like that.
Shirley:Anything come to mind, not on the top. She's formatted it all from her brain. It's all good.
J.R.:If you could give your younger self advice, what would it be now, any age, any time period?
Shirley:I would say to trust myself, because a lot of times I feel like I can't. For me it's a lot of like mental barriers, but it's more. Oh, I should believe in myself more because, a lot of times I don't, but then I do. I'm really grateful to have friends who believe in me and what I can do and what I could do also for the future. But a lot of times if I do, if I can't trust myself, then it pulls me back.
J.R.:Yeah, so it'll be more believe in yourself, trust yourself good advice, and I guess on that note is there do you foresee any sort of time frame of like passing the torch for someone else to take on Shira, or do you think you're just going to do this forever?
Shirley:As of right now, we are still handling me and VO. We are going to take care of the teams, but then, as of the other members, we haven't had a chance.
J.R.:We still might be thinking about it, but probably in the near future we might have to hand it or add more to the leadership. Okay, add more leadership spots to help with the responsibilities. Cool, makes sense. I always worry about that. Or actually let me take it back for leadership, right?
J.R.:Yes, the way I see it is like it's always a constant process of finding and growing new leaders because, at least for a team like Choreos, people graduate and they leave or they're working in the new phase of life, so it's constantly a turnover of L-ship and so for me it's okay. So I need to keep on the lookout for new leaders and help develop them so that they can kind of like replace and recycle, like not recycle, but you know what I mean Like refresh that, like group, that base of leadership. Because if you don't do that actively, what that base of leadership? Because if you don't do that actively, what we have in a lot of different teams is like a phoenix year, which is all the leadership leaves and or there's unresolved conflicts or problems, and then you have a whole batch of really new, fresh people who don't know what they're doing or like they don't have experience and they just have to learn as they go, and then the team suffers for that.
J.R.:So my focus is, like always, trying to develop a new batch so that, like we're rotating of, like people out and in but it's also it's like I know that no one is going to be in this position forever, so therefore we have to keep that culture of constantly finding new leaders and developing them.
J.R.:Yeah, and yeah, aside from me, who's probably gonna be there forever? I'm I'm always looking for new people to be like all right, this person has potential, and then just kind of peer pressuring them to be leaders, and then not peer pressuring but just encouraging growth and being like hey, this team isn't just about you, it's about giving back to other people. So if you guys have had a good experience which is my focus, for the team is to have the newbies have such a good experience that they want to stay for two, three, four years and that they want to eventually become leaders to give back to their newbies, if that makes sense. So I think about that, which is why I'm like so impressed that you guys do it with like just only a handful of people and it's just you guys for now and it's and you guys do a really good job with you. Know, even though you don't have other officer positions, you're still. I still think you're developing leaders, just obviously not an official capacity, but yeah, that's just like my tangent thoughts on that.
Shirley:I think because we're also like a young team, because we only started from 2022. So I think it's only been four years, compared to a lot of teams They've been. I'm not sure how long is Koreos.
J.R.:Oh, this is our 10th year.
Shirley:This is our 10th era year.
J.R.:As of this month actually. Oh. Yeah, so it's pretty crazy Side tangent. I'm trying to hit that record of being on the team the longest. So the record right now is six and a half to 6.8 years, and so I just need to do two more years to hit seven, or sorry, seven and a half, something like that. Wow. So I'm like I have a two-year lease on choreos, still Wow.
J.R.:I want to be there for two more years. For sure yeah.
J.R.:I'm and I'm sure, yeah, for sure, I'm for sure because I'm like, yeah, I'm competitive that way, I want to have the record. I don't think anyone else is going to stay on the team for seven years, so I might as well, just do that oh and I'm also the oldest person on the team now yes, I question how.
Shirley:How do you feel about being the oldest?
J.R.:I mean it's, there's a huge age gap. They did, someone did this thing. That's like shots fired, where it's like they put all the birthdays and then the ages yeah, I wonder who's the oldest?
Shirley:oh yeah, and then.
J.R.:So it's me, and then there's a five-year gap, and then there's my little lisa, who's 27, oh, and so I was like god damn it. And then from there it's 27 to 6, 25 to 4, to the other, to 18, and we've had a 17 year old learning team before too so it's just 17, 17 through 27, and then a five, six year gap and then me, okay, well, whatever, um, it's, there's a disconnect.
J.R.:So it's kind of like obviously there's generational, like they're super into k-pop, I'm not, and they like they're like college students and I'm obviously not, and they have their things they're interested in, and so I'm just kind of like there to supervise and like just to make sure everyone's cool and like just to make it a safe space for them to grow and learn and to be leaders and develop their own artistry. That's like my function is to make sure that the team is healthy.
J.R.:Oh, that's good, yeah, and then so I'm just like all right, I'm the adult, make sure everyone's healthy. But otherwise you guys lead the team.
J.R.:Yeah, because I don't… I'm like I don't want to lead anything Because there's no point in me being the bottleneck or the director of internal relations, and so I'm doing that next year as well. So that's just it. We have an l ship of 11 now. Yeah, before it was like 10 and then nine before that, but like our l ship now is like super solid compared to like before, where it was kind of like college students trying to figure it out. But now that we've had more mature people and put structures in place, like our l ship is super solid, like i'dIP against any other team's L-SHIP in terms of what we can get done, our communication and 11 people is a team within itself. So my primary function is making sure that team of 11 is. We're so cohesive and we can work through our problems or have difficult conversations, and that's my sole focus. Everything else you all need to do everything else because this is your team.
J.R.:I'm just here to make sure that l ship is healthy and safe. Oh, and by the by, yeah, by transit property, then the team will be healthy and safe if l ship is functioning, that's good.
Shirley:Yeah, I'm a free yeah, yeah.
J.R.:Well, I mean, I mean everyone has their challenges, but I think it's. I really enjoy the process of helping to create like a healthy, safe team or like we all can trust each other, and then I believe that if everyone has a good level of safety and trust, we can do good work regardless. That's really good, yeah, yeah, yeah. Sorry, let me just go back to you. This is like a super huge tangent, so rapid fire questions Are there any habits or routines that are key for you to getting results now, like anything that keeps you sane, that you do consistently, mindsets, processes.
Shirley:I think in general, for me it's just being consistent, okay.
J.R.:For me, it's just being consistent. Okay, Consistent in what way?
Shirley:I would say… what do you mean, like dance or just in general?
J.R.:In general, like as surely as a person. Do you have any? Habits or routines that keep you sane or help you to achieve your goals.
Shirley:Well… so with gym… I do like to gym, like maybe once a week, but then for gym it's not really more like just body goals and more it's for me to relieve stress. And then for me it's like, oh, I really actually enjoy gym because you know, so okay, like when I was really young, it's like when I get really mad at my mom, I start doing like push-ups in my room. So I was like, oh, I'm mad, yes, I do that.
Shirley:So then I don't know, gym is just really stress relieving for me. So I and then I think in general, I just think, coming back from maybe the yuppies, you know, consistency with reviews or on dance teams, like consistency with that we're always working.
J.R.:I would say consistency in general okay, so being consistent with everything that you do, because you know that's like the way to achieve everything gotcha, I like that. Who do you consider successful and how do you define success? Like anyone come to mind could be people you know friends, family, or like a famous person or whatever. Who do you consider successful and how do you define success?
Shirley:I think was this a similar question to the influences it could be yeah let's see, I think maybe. Well, I guess, besides SHERO, yeah my team's successful. I'm really proud that SHERO growing so well and especially, it's only been four years and then we hit the 60K mark and it's oh you know. I'm hoping that we can get like 100K for subscribers. We get that YouTube plaque.
Shirley:I was like, oh, we'll have our own and it'll be really nice and rewarding, but then with that, it's just with SHERO, and then It'll be really nice and rewarding. So then with that, it's just with SHERO. And then I mean, like SHERO can't grow without I mean, our friend Vio. Vio does definitely do a lot for SHERO and she did help with building the structure and everything. Let's see Idols. So I guess my favorite dance idol would be Kai. Oh, okay, I really enjoy his way of dancing. He's really passionate with the way he dances and that just made me so inspired. Oh, I want to like dance like him, and it's a lot coming back to, I guess, like my dance journey. It's coming back. Oh, this looks so cool, I want to learn it. I see you walking. Oh, I want to learn that too. Also breaking.
Shirley:So I was always trying new things that made me inspired to become who I am Nice.
J.R.:Do you have a definition or how you define the term success? Oh, this person is successful because I define success as this. Do you have anything that comes to mind?
Shirley:I would say, if they're doing well, if someone who's maybe active or just seeing, I would say also getting opportunities, if you see someone who's getting so much opportunities. Well, I really I admire their work and like how hard they're working just to gain so much stuff and then they're able to achieve more and expand how they're doing.
J.R.:So like working hard and then seeing the results of that, which are like achieving different things. If time and money weren't an obstacle, what would you be doing?
Shirley:I would be traveling.
J.R.:Oh, where to?
Shirley:I just want to travel certain places on Instagram, you see like oh, you know, there's really nice, like waterfalls or hiking spots. Yeah, actually, this year I will be traveling to Taiwan and Korea, Ooh nice. Just for vacation. Yeah, yeah yeah, yeah.
Shirley:For that I just want to also visit Europe. I want to try, maybe also like the best food, going to you know trying the best croissant or something. Or you know, go to Hawaii, I'm going to try the best Spam-soubi. So I want to try so many different things. I just want to see the world.
J.R.:Spoken like a true foodie.
Shirley:You're like travel, so I can try the food, yes.
J.R.:How do you spend most of your time?
Shirley:I would say there isn't a category I spend most if it's not dance, gym play with my dog, games. I would say I keep it all maybe like well balanced. So there's not something I put too much time into If not dance. Nice, I love it. I feel like we're the same too.
J.R.:I equally diversify my stuff, so it's not all just one thing yeah Last rapid fire question. I feel like we're the same too, like I equally diversify my stuff, so it's not all just one yeah um, yeah, last rapid fire question any favorite books, movies, articles, resources that you share or recommend the most media or songs, artists, anything you recommend.
Shirley:I think I'm, I've been so kept up with K-pop and having to like I don't know with K-pop and having to like… I don't know, with K-pop it's always… it has to be the new trend kind of thing. I feel like… I don't know, with K-pop it's a bit repetitive at the same time. But I think, as of now, recently, not too much Gotcha.
J.R.:Yeah, it's all good, cool. Alright, let's go into ending questions. We're about to wrap up. We're about to wrap up, so I like to end with gratitude, as always. So, shirley, what are you grateful for?
Shirley:Yes, I'm grateful for everyone who just keeps supporting me, believes in me and just trusts me to do everything that I… it's again, it's like the mental barrier, but I really appreciate everyone who always believes in me and says I'm doing a good job. It's really heartwarming Because, yes, a lot of times I don't believe in myself.
J.R.:I love that, any final ask from the audience or any final takeaways that you want them to get from this episode.
Shirley:Aside from following Shira's, which you should. It's a bit cliche, but I would say love yourself, always, work on yourself, put everything you can on yourself to become the better version, and then just focus Nice.
J.R.:I love that a lot. All right, Shirley. Well, that's pretty much it. Where can we find you if people want to reach out or connect or see what you're up to?
Shirley:You can follow me on Instagram. Woo, Shirley, underscore J. You can follow us on SHERO S-H-E-R-O-F-F-I-C-I-A-L-S. Yes, it's right there nice.
J.R.:Yes, and I will link it in the show notes as well so you can click on those links and check them out, see what they're up to yes, thank you so much. Well, yeah, thank you for being here, shirley. Again, I really appreciate it. I'm glad you were on my season one, and so now for the audience. Thank you guys for tuning in I know.
Shirley:Thank you guys.
