A Spark Of Awareness

Sophie Vo

A Spark Of Awareness is a weekly 15-minute reflection practice for conscious leaders to practice self-awareness. Your time to pause, and sit with yourself. No distraction, just self-listening. Every week, Sophie Vo will offer a human prompt — drawn from real transformation work with tech and gaming founders, executives, and leaders — to help you step out of old scripts, reconnect with your truth, and lead from integrity, presence, and self-mastery. Sophie is a leadership guide for high-achieving and conscious leaders. With 17 years of leadership experience in the tech and gaming industry, Sophie has built and led 30+ global teams across the U.S., Europe, and Asia, and has mentored over 200 executives across VC-backed startups and public companies. A four-time founder, her most recent venture scaled to six figures in its first year and evolved into ORIN — a curated global network redefining leadership for women. riseandplay.substack.com

  1. MAR 3

    Energy Is The New Currency

    In this episode of Spark of Awareness, Sophie Vo Vo explores energy as the primary currency behind execution, leadership, and business growth—more foundational than money or time. She shares how she sees low energy as a core challenge in her coaching clients, often showing up as feeling frozen, overthinking, and lacking movement, and connects this to the idea of leading from an “empty cup.” Sophie frames energy in a grounded way: the felt presence someone carries that creates warmth, trust, inspiration, and momentum. She invites listeners to assess their “cup” of energy each morning and redesign routines to support it—especially the night before (going to bed earlier, reducing late screens, using blue-light glasses after 8pm). She emphasizes protecting the first part of the day from emails/messages and creating a non-negotiable morning ritual tailored to what energizes you (silence, breakfast, movement, meditation, reading). Sophie shares her own 30-minute routine: music, singing, tea, lemon and coconut oil, connecting with her cat Lio, light movement/dancing, and a short grounding meditation before starting work. She also highlights that energy is shaped by exchanges with others, encouraging listeners to check how they feel after meetings—energized or drained—and to adjust boundaries, frequency, and timing of interactions (especially triggering conversations). She cautions against relying on stimulants like excessive caffeine or drugs to sustain performance, suggesting instead a restructuring of days and weeks around what nurtures energy. Finally, she explains how her business is built on energy through consistency, discipline, clarity, warmth, and regulated presence—allowing her to convert clients without overselling. The episode ends with a short guided grounding meditation focused on breathing, body sensation, and gentle movement to integrate the topic.00:00 Energy Is the New Currency (Not Money or Time)01:12 What “Energy” Really Means: Presence, Trust & Vibe01:54 Why Most People Get Stuck: Empty Cup, Self‑Sabotage & Frozen Action03:06 Morning Energy Audit: How You Wake Up Sets the Whole Day03:55 Build a Non‑Negotiable Routine: Sleep, Screens & Starting Right05:21 My 30‑Minute Morning Ritual (Music, Movement, Meditation)07:41 Social Energy: Who Drains You vs. Who Fuels You09:29 Protect Your Energy with Boundaries & Strategic Scheduling10:21 Stop Relying on Stimulants—Restructure Your Week Around What Nourishes You11:46 How My Business Runs on Energy: Calm Presence Over Hustle13:50 Grounding Meditation to Integrate the Episode17:02 Closing: Keep Working on Your Energy Flow Thanks for tuning in to a Spark of Awareness. Subscribe for free to receive your weekly dose of consciousness. This is a public episode. If you would like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit riseandplay.substack.com

    19 min
  2. FEB 24

    Where Is The Feminine In Leadership?

    Recording from Eagle River, Wisconsin closing the first US ORIN Retreat co-led with Devon Wyland, Sophie Vo Vo reflects on feminine–masculine polarity in leadership and why this theme is triggering, at the moment. Sophie describes masculine leadership as structure, boundaries, control (and when imbalanced, dominance, aggression, and competition) and feminine leadership as flow, intuition, and emotional attunement—qualities she says are often missing at workplaces. She notes many women leaders have learned to lead through masculine models, which can be exhausting and can hide feminine power, while in business operations many women lean too far into unstructured feminine flow when building a business requires masculine structure, method, discipline, and strong boundaries. This podcast reflection invites both women and men to develop missing parts of their polarity: women reconnecting to feminine presence without shame or stereotypes, and men cultivating empathy, listening, and emotional presence rather than outsourcing emotional labor to women. Sophie shares her personal journey of being raised in a performance-driven, competitive, controlling environment, feeling uncomfortable in women’s spaces, and later reconnecting to her feminine side to lead and build her work from authenticity, truth, and soul alignment rather than performance. The episode closes with reflection prompts to identify where listeners are overdeveloped (masculine force/control or feminine lack of structure), suggestions to rebalance through learning structure or practicing softness and imperfection, and a short grounding meditation focused on breath, sensory awareness, and a held inhale. 00:00 Welcome to A Spark of Awareness (Why inner authority matters)02:44 Feminine & Masculine in leadership: Why this theme triggers us05:02 Redefining the feminine leadership: Presence, authenticity, and trust07:15 The reversal for women: Masculine presence, feminine business ops09:22 My personal journey: From performance to feminine reconnection11:23 Practical reflection: Diagnose your polarity + rebalance practices13:06 Guided grounding meditation (breath + senses)15:05 Closing: Next retreats, integration prompt, and how to connect Recommended Books on Feminine Leadership 🌹 * Women who run with the wolves (by Dr Clarissa Pinkola Estés) * Muse: The Magnetism of Women Who Stop Abandoning Themselves (by Dr Amanda Hanson) Enjoy this Self-Awareness practice 👁️ Thanks for tuning in to a Spark of Awareness. Subscribe for free to receive your weekly dose of consciousness. This is a public episode. If you would like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit riseandplay.substack.com

    16 min
  3. JAN 27

    Self Sabotage #3: Leading With Fears

    In this weekly reflection of ‘A Spark of Awareness,’ Sophie Vo presents the third self-sabotage pattern in leadership: fear-based decision-making. Drawing from her own experience and the hundreds of founders she has worked with, Sophie outlines how fear influences leaders’ decisions, leading to detrimental outcomes for teams and organizations, and eventually business growth. You will get actionable insights on recognizing fear-driven behaviors, differentiating rational and irrational fears, and how to bring them to light so they have less power over you. This reflection is a reminder of the importance of making decisions from a place of integrity rather than fear, advocating for conscious leadership. Listeners are encouraged to slow down, connect with their bodies, and reflect on their fears to lead more effectively. Reflection points: * Recognizing Fear in Decision Making * Evolutionary Perspective on Fear And Why Most Of Our Fears Are Not Real * Good vs. Bad Fears * Managing Fear: Techniques and Coaching Exercises * Transgenerational Fears and Their Origins * Closing Meditation and Reflection Extra resources recommended: * Fear Settings Journaling (by Tim Ferriss): * It Didn’t Start With You (by Marc Wollyn) Enjoy this Self-Awareness practice 👁️ Thanks for tuning in to a Spark of Awareness. Subscribe for free to receive your weekly dose of consciousness.. This is a public episode. If you would like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit riseandplay.substack.com

    19 min

Ratings & Reviews

5
out of 5
3 Ratings

About

A Spark Of Awareness is a weekly 15-minute reflection practice for conscious leaders to practice self-awareness. Your time to pause, and sit with yourself. No distraction, just self-listening. Every week, Sophie Vo will offer a human prompt — drawn from real transformation work with tech and gaming founders, executives, and leaders — to help you step out of old scripts, reconnect with your truth, and lead from integrity, presence, and self-mastery. Sophie is a leadership guide for high-achieving and conscious leaders. With 17 years of leadership experience in the tech and gaming industry, Sophie has built and led 30+ global teams across the U.S., Europe, and Asia, and has mentored over 200 executives across VC-backed startups and public companies. A four-time founder, her most recent venture scaled to six figures in its first year and evolved into ORIN — a curated global network redefining leadership for women. riseandplay.substack.com

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