Sophie Vo

Happy New Year ✨! Let’s open the year with an important topic regarding self-leadership: Health. Last Sunday, I hosted the first women’s circle as part of my new coaching program, ORIN (more details below). We started this journey with a discussion on health, and one powerful realization emerged from the group: most of us neglect our souls when we think about health. How often do we consider our soul’s well-being when discussing taking care of ourselves? The Missing Piece in Our Health Conversation Typically, when we discuss health, we focus on mental health and physical health. Mental health usually refers to how we feel. Are we rested, calm, and content? Or are we stressed, exhausted, and overwhelmed? When we feel mentally depleted, we often try to “fix” it with rest—taking a break or going on a vacation. But do these […]

It’s that time of year again—rushing to close the business, meet deadlines, and prepare for the holidays that inevitably take up mental space. Usually, the end of the year is a time people wind down, process the year, and gear up to dive back into the grind come January. I get it. It can feel like an endless race. All you want at the end of the year is to stop thinking about work, let alone examine yourself. But when is the right time to work on yourself, if not now? I mean to review your year not just from a business perspective but also from an inner one. For the past seven years, I’ve made it a point to do an EOY (End-Of-Year) review. It has become a routine —a chance to step back and evaluate my life choices […]

How is it going with Olivya?That’s the question many industry peers have been asking me lately. While answering it, I couldn’t help but feel a sense of disappointment—with myself more than anything. But I knew I had to be honest about where I stood in my entrepreneurial journey and where I truly wanted to invest my energy. And that energy wasn’t in building a scalable AI/tech company.We built Olivya in just three months and three months of research and testing. Here’s a snapshot of what we created during this process: Olivya V2 (Sept 2024)Alongside my partner, Marko Kecman, we’re happy to share our key insights—both about the product and the market—for anyone who might want to continue the quest of building the perfect AI human companion… #1 The AI App Challenge: Another Habit-App ChallengeIn the rapidly growing world of AI […]

I’ve just returned from a two-week retreat in Japan, and while most people assumed I was on “holiday,” it wasn’t a vacation in the traditional sense. Each year, I commit to travel somewhere new and engage in activities I’ve never done before. This isn’t just a break from routine—it’s a deliberate effort to remain curious and gain fresh perspectives on both my business and personal life. When I was employed, I used to approach these trips as holidays, a time to disconnect. But now, as an entrepreneur, I see this time as a fundamental investment for myself and my soul. During this trip, my partner James (also an entrepreneur in the podcast world) and I immersed ourselves in the beauty of Japanese nature—hiking, cycling through the rain, and island-hopping. But we were also partially working on our respective businesses and […]

I used to believe wealth = money (while you sleep) only.Through reflection talks with my coach, I realized my motivation has never been to chase money, and more importantly, what for? Source: Rich Dad Poor DadWealth is a personal concept.Reflecting on my first year as an entrepreneur with Rise and Play — signing 32 clients, traveling to 13 destinations for talks and workshops, and launching two startups such as Olivya—did I become ridiculously rich? Hell no.But have I become wealthier? Absolutely.🌏 Traveling to incredible places around the world (Colombia, India, Finland, Spain, France, Lithuania...), all while being paid to do what I love.⏱️ Choosing who I work with and when I work.🫶 The deep connections I made with new and old friends, experiences, and memories😫 Growing personally—often painfully—each day 🧘🏻‍♀️ Feeling at home in my body in most days⭐️ Developing […]

I hit a wallBack in 2019, I vividly recall feeling overwhelmed and for the first time in my career, helpless at work. I was building one of the first casual studios at Voodoo. I was putting a lot of pressure on myself to succeed, prove myself, and build the Dream Team that would take us to the moon. Then, Covid-19 hit, and nothing was going according to plan. Still, management expected us to deliver our first title within 24 months. The clock was ticking.Before receiving coaching or therapy, I believed I didn't need any help. I prided myself on strength and self-reliance—if I had a problem, I would solve it on my own. Therapy and coaching were only for “others”. But deep down, this overconfidence masked a fear of confronting my weaknesses and blind spots. I was reluctant to admit […]

130,000+ layoffs in the tech industry so far in 2024.20,000+ layoffs in the gaming industry since 2023. These are depressing numbers. Every time I open my LinkedIn and read another post about someone being laid off and still looking for a job, I feel compassion and wonder what more I can do to help 😔What resources do you use to stay motivated and keep moving forward during those times? Over the past few months, I’ve discovered through my coaching calls that what people need most is #motivation #energy, and #clarity to take the right next steps 💪But hiring a coach is expensive 💸 —so what are the alternatives? That’s when my partners, Marko Kecman Martha Pierce, and I sat down to design a scalable solution for millions of job seekers who need coaching but can’t afford it.With Olivya, you can […]

#Networking: most of us don't enjoy it. It feels unnatural and uncomfortable, especially when you're the only one (of your 'kind' 🙋🏻‍♀️) at an event. But remember, #Networking is Power 💪 (your SocialCapital):💼 It can unlock your next job opportunity, even when you are not looking🤝 It can lead to new business opportunities (clients, prospects, partners)💸 It can secure your next round of fundingSo, how do we overcome the discomfort and show up at networking events? We PLAN and PREPARE. Here are my #4Ps of Networking:Preparation 📝Presence 👁️Post-connection 🤝Practice! 💪With Gamescom just around the corner and over 20,000 layoffs in the gaming industry since 2023, #networking is more valuable than ever.You don't build a network only when you need it; you build it every day.

Is a Leader a Manager? Is a Manager a Leader? What is Leadership? Through my experience as a “leader”, “people manager” and today as a “leadership coach” I often needed to clarify to my clients and partners what is the difference between those roles as they are often used interchangeably at work, leading to deep confusion. I hope to provide some light in this article on the distinctions between these roles as I believe it is essential for navigating today's evolving workplace. Manager vs. Leader: Is There A Difference? A manager is a title assigned within an organization. Managers are responsible for overseeing projects, managing time, allocating resources, and coordinating teams. Their role is centered on maintaining order, ensuring efficiency, and meeting organizational objectives. Management is about OPTIMISATION and CONTROL. Managers have their part to play in an organization. However […]

I had a transformative experience in 2023 ✨ I am ready to finally share a life-changing experience I had during a three-week trip to Colombia at the end of 2023. For full disclosure, I meant to release this post much earlier, but it stayed in my drafts since January as I couldn’t finalize it. I needed time to process what happened, what I was going through, and where I am going now. A lot happened in my personal world in the first six months of 2024. I want to share the retrospective journey of what led me to discontinue Kylan, the game studio I kicked off in Vietnam in November 2023 with two co-founders (more to come in the podcast in August), and soon after what led me to start another business in April: Olivya. I am excited to share […]

What I Wish I Knew Founding a New Studio (Again) in 2024… 🤦🏻‍♀️ Coming from mobile development, my mindset has always been on #testing, #learning, #improving and repeat... Sometimes 'winning', sometimes 'failing', sometimes pivoting, sometimes discontinuing. That’s the nature of running multiple experiments 👩🏻‍🔬🤷🏻‍♀️ I approach building talks like I approach building a product. I test the talk, and get learnings to iterate for future talks/workshops💡But in this case, it was more than a normal talk I’d give because I was doing a full retrospective of my entrepreneurial journey for DevGAMM #Vilnius and share with no filter my top 5 mistakes as an entrepreneur. Over the past decade, I built 5 ventures, 2 of which are still ‘alive’. One of them, Rise and Play, is in its 3rd year of growing revenues, allowing me to focus full-time on it. The […]