Hey Reader,
I hope you are ready for the new month. The pivotal moment that changed the trajectory of my week?
Sending an email I’d been avoiding all month — pitching an idea for the Global ABS conference.
Just 24 hours later:
“This sounds like a fantastic idea for a session, and perfect for our Spotlight & Innovation Stage.”
With less than 12 days to go, I’m now preparing to speak on:
From Greenwashing to Green Cashflows (How early carbon-removal deals are being underwritten — and what’s next for structured finance.)
No slides yet. No guest-speaker (yet).
Just a very real sense that I’ve been handed a mic on a stage I didn’t think I’d be invited into.
And then I saw my name listed on the speaker page — one of the few Asian women in a sea of traditional finance profiles.
I still can’t quite believe it.
But maybe I’ve grown faster than I’ve given myself credit for.
This isn’t something I’d have the courage to say in a traditional room.
But here, I’ll say it:
Being pushed to the edge financially, emotionally, and creatively has taught me this —
Scarcity can force clarity.
Scarcity can unlock new energy.
Scarcity might just be the start of something powerful.
I will be ready.
💌This Week’s Gift
🎥 Published this week:
Networking without Business Card
Together with my Networking Starter Pack
The takeaway that surprised myself the most? Same as the GTV webinar: if no one invites you to their party, host your own.
Before you know it, you’ll be ready for the bigger stage.
🧠 ChatGPT as Life Coach
I’ve started using ChatGPT for nightly reflection:
- What did I do today?
- What’s weighing on me?
- What would feel good tomorrow?
Some nights, it ends with one sentence that feels like it knows me better than I know myself…
“Open the doc you’re avoiding — tomorrow-you will thank you. Now you can sleep tight. Good night Lydia”
It’s become a ritual. Less chaos. More calm.
🎙 Global Talent Visa Gratitude
My friend Akhil Menon shared his journey with us on his GTV journey —Watch it here so that he can be a guest at my recent
How to Nail Your Global Talent Visa Application (Even If You're Not a Tech Bro) https://lu.ma/x4b3l4d8 webinar
that we helped helped bring the “overwhelmed → hopeful” shift alive.
✨Blue Elsewhere
Each week, I collect three moments — not quite blue, but close. Tiny windows into what moved me, made me pause, or helped me see differently.
One Magic Moment
Hosting the How to Nail Your GTV Application webinar.
Despite all the last-minute prep and material swaps, the moment that stayed with me was seeing the shift in mood:
From “overwhelmed” → to “hopeful.”
That’s enough magic for one week.
One Shift in Thought
We were sitting at the sun-drenched corner of this little greek restaurant, the kind of table that makes water glasses sparkle and conversations feel lighter.
“I feel better this year — not as poor as I did last year.”
He paused for a second, then replied:
“That’s good. But poor is a mindset, not a reality.”
I’d just finished brunch with an old friend visiting from California — an investor with a quiet mission to reach “F-you money.”
We later walked to my regular spot at another cafe nearby the barista station where I often watch them prepare their £15 pour-over like it’s a ritual.
“Order the Fernando,” I said. “It’s their signature.”
He looked at me with surprise:
“Have you tried it before?”
I admitted I hadn’t. I always watched them make it — appreciated the process, the detail — but I’d never ordered it myself.
“Of course you can afford it,” he said plainly. “You’re just choosing not to.”
I keep turning that over in my head.
Because he’s right — I am choosing.
I’m choosing to spend my resources where it counts most right now.
Not because I can’t — but because I’m betting on a different kind of return.
Sometimes that means skipping the £15 pour-over.
But saying yes to the long-haul flight for a chance that feels like it matters.
A rich life, right now, might just be this:
waiting with intention, leaping with heart —
and knowing you’re already on the way.
One Extra Spark
I just finished reading The Next Conversation. This line in Afterwords hit me:
“Who do your words say you are? My prayer for you is that you let what you say and how you say it become your family’s inheritance. A legacy of who you want to be and how you want to be remembered.”
✍️ Prompt for the Week Ahead
Have you ever used ChatGPT as your life coach?
Every month I ask it to help me reflect and plan.
Not just “what should I do?” — but “who am I becoming?”
Today I asked:
“Can you be my CSO, my life coach, and my best friend as I plan June?”
Yes "Let’s step through this together, as your life coach, CSO, and best friend, and hold both your wins and worries with equal weight."
Maybe that’s the first step for you, too.
🎵 Escape 9 to 5 Note
“When you learn music, you have to slow down and take on something you don’t know how to do… and that becomes a way of life.” — Derek Sivers in my most recent Escape 9 to 5 episode
Here’s to doing the thing that still scares you a little.
A new month.
A new voice.
A new you — one who walks into unfamiliar rooms, says yes to the mic, and starts building the thing anyway.
Scarcity might still be here.
But so does your courage —
and that’s the tempo we’re dancing to this month.
From one not-so-blue Sunday,
– Lydia 💙
