“Ien, if Jesus was born today, he’d be a filmmaker!” -my dad

Since a young age, I’ve often wondered why people don’t talk more about the bigger questions in life.

What is life? What are we doing here? Where is this all going? And WHY?

Seeking to understand it all, I studied diverse philosophies and religions, traveled 25+ countries, deconstructed my conservative Christian worldview, tried some acid, joined a cult, and much more.

Ultimately, at the end of the day, I’ve come to understand that there is an ultimate unifier behind it all.

People call this unifying ultimacy many names: God, truth, consciousness, Allah, presence, awareness, the universe, Buddha nature, and much more. 

If there’s an undeniable, inevitable reality that I have learned in my short 33 years of life, it is that we are all on a journey to understand, feel, and share with one another in this ultimate reality we call by many names.

No matter how long it may take or how painful the process may sometimes, we are each expanding in consciousness and learning iteratively how to live in greater alignment with truth and our higher selves - towards ultimately realizing that we are all fractals of one greater indivisible whole.

Growing up, my dad (a pastor) told me, “Ien, if Jesus was born today, he’d be a filmmaker!” – because Jesus often spoke through parables, which made grappling with life’s biggest questions that much more captivating and effective.

And so, from my childhood years of falling in love with filmmaking – I’ve nurtured a multi-decade mission to explore and support the process of consciousness expansion within ourselves – attempting to crystallize deeper insights, humanity, and spirit into encapsulating stories for people to enjoy, be challenged, and empowered by.

I hope in exploring my work you’ll feel something sparked within, a yearning towards greater expansion of life and of actualizing your deeper spirit within.

I’m always seeking to connect with and support like-minded individuals. So if you resonate with my mission, feel free to reach out any time!

Peace and blessings,

   -Ien

Solo trip to India, circa 2013

Dad and me, circa 1994

Career highlights

  • Creative Director of Jubilee (2017-2020), a media company dedicated to spreading empathy globally - which garnered 5,000,000+ subscribers and 1,000,000,000+ views in 3 years and created some of YouTube’s most viral shows like Middle Ground, Spectrum, Odd One Out, and more

  • Chief Creative of Mindset @ DIVE Studios, collaborated with artists Summer Walker, 6lack, Eric Nam, Julia Michaels, Slowthai, DPR, Keshi, WOOSUNG, Huddy, and many more

  • Speaker at TEDxBerkeley, Princeton, Notre Dame, NYU, UCLA, and 20+ other colleges and events

  • Commercial director and editor for Fortune 100 companies and celebrities including Apple, Nike, NASA, Lindsey Stirling, New York Times, and more. Junk Mail garners 8M+ views. Edited a narrative feature film starring Miyavi (Kong) and Karen Fukuhara (Suicide Squad).

  • Executive Producer of Emmy award nominated feature documentary Accepted, which premiered at Tribeca Film Festival and was released in theaters nationwide in 2022.

  • Ode to the World’s Stories: winner of the highest Gold prize at the final/national round of the American Advertising Awards

  • Competed in the International Whistling Competition, ranked #11 whistler in the world, and Ditching School to Whistle accumulated 4.5M+ views

  • Tick Tock, a one-shot short film about a young man with seemingly 5 minutes left to live, goes viral and becomes Reddit’s highest upvoted film of all time, wins top prizes at the world’s largest student film festival.

  • Co-founder of Nourish Creative, dedicated to telling and impactful human stories.