A Spark Of Awareness

In this series on the six human needs, we’ve already explored certainty, variety, significance, and love and connection. Today, we’re looking at the fifth human need: Growth. For me, this has been one of the strongest drivers throughout my life. Growth has shaped how I learn, how I lead, how I build businesses, and how I relate to challenges. It has also been one of my biggest teachers. Because li...

In this series on the six human needs, we’ve already explored certainty, variety, and significance. Today, we’re looking at the fourth human need: Love and connection. At first glance, this need seems harmless. Who doesn’t want love? Who doesn’t want meaningful relationships, belonging, and connection? The challenge is not the need itself. The challenge is what happens when our need for connection...

In this series on the six human needs, we’ve already explored the need for certainty and the need for variety in the previous episodes. Today, we’re looking at the third human need: significance . This one feels particularly personal to me. As I’ve transitioned from leadership roles in tech and gaming into coaching and conscious leadership, I’ve had to confront my own relationship with significanc...

Welcome to a new episode of Spark of Awareness , continuing the series on the six human needs. If you missed the previous episode, I encourage you to connect with it. Each of these needs carries both a constructive expression and a shadow expression. In leadership, these shadows inevitably appear to varying degrees, and when they remain unconscious, they can hinder growth, decision-making, and lon...

Welcome to a new episode of Spark of Awareness . I’ve been away for a few weeks, integrating everything that happened over the past months. Many positive changes took place, but integration takes time. Sometimes, making priorities means letting go and accepting that we do not always have control — a theme I’ll explore throughout this series. In this series, I’m diving into the six human needs and...

In this episode, Sam Bell (host of the Natural Genius podcast ) interviews Sophie Vo about bringing more of the whole human into business: heart, healing, responsibility, joy, intuition and higher consciousness. Sophie has spent more than 20 years in technology, entrepreneurship, games and leadership. Now, through ORIN and her wider work, she supports leaders and women to come back to their own tr...

In our fast-paced world driven by algorithms and constant stimuli, the journey of self-mastery is an often overlooked yet crucial path. This episode distills the key learnings from the insightful teachings of Sophie Vo , conscious leadership coach, on how to let go and embark on a journey of self-awareness. We explore the signals that reveal shadows in leadership, offer options to practice self-aw...

Welcome to a Spark of Awareness, a weekly 15-minute reflection for leaders to reclaim inner authority in a world shaped by algorithms and constant stimulation. Setting boundaries is a recurring theme in Sophie Vo ’s coaching sessions, reflecting a widespread challenge many leaders face. While the concept of boundaries is broadly understood, the application is often lacking. A boundary, in its simp...

Welcome to a Spark of Awareness, a weekly 15-minute reflection for leaders to reclaim inner authority in a world shaped by algorithms and constant stimulation. Sophie Vo closes her series on emotions in leadership by naming what’s often missing in business settings: love, expressed as the courage of the heart. We mean by that self-love, and compassion, not boundaryless attachment. Sophie explains...

Welcome to ’s Spark of Awareness, a weekly 15-minute reflection for leaders to reclaim inner authority in a world shaped by algorithms and constant stimulation. Recording from Coppet on the Switzerland–France border while finishing training in energetic healing and family system constellation, Sophie Vo reflects on a two-and-a-half-year transformation from gaming executive (Head of Studio at Voodo...

Welcome to ’s Spark of Awareness, a weekly 15-minute reflection for leaders to reclaim inner authority in a world shaped by algorithms and constant stimulation. In this episode on fear, as the most dominant emotion at work and the polar opposite of love, Sophie Vo explores how fear is amplified by news, media, and marketing and how unexamined fear drives high-stakes decisions, damages teams and pr...

Welcome to ’s Spark of Awareness, a weekly 15-minute reflection for leaders to reclaim inner authority in a world shaped by algorithms and constant stimulation. In this episode on suppressed emotions at work, Sophie Vo focuses on Sadness as the process of something that used to be and is no more, an inevitable companion to transformation, endings, and rebirth in teams, projects, and leadership ide...

Welcome to Sophie Vo ’s Spark of Awareness, a weekly 15-minute reflection for leaders to reclaim inner authority in a world shaped by algorithms and constant stimulation. Continuing her series on unconscious emotions at work, Sophie examines shame and guilt as a sneaky, damaging force that breaks trust when hidden: in women it often shows up as self-blame, harsh inner critique, idea-killing, and o...

Welcome to Sophie Vo ’s Spark of Awareness, a weekly 15-minute reflection for leaders to reclaim inner authority in a world shaped by algorithms and constant stimulation. We begin a special series on emotions in leadership—often discouraged publicly yet present in private—because self-awareness supports integrity, nervous system regulation, and healthier workplaces. This episode focuses on Anger ,...

Shame often hides in the parts of ourselves we try the hardest to avoid. Judgment. Self-criticism. The quiet inner voice telling us we are not enough. But what if the practice isn’t to fight those parts… What if the practice is to meet them with love? In this live session from the ORIN Fire Gathering , Sophie Vo shares a simple yet powerful mirror practice: learning to speak to ourselves with comp...

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...

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 emot...

In this episode of ‘A Spark of Awareness,’ Sophie Vo Vo delves into the concept of the Drama Triangle , also known as the Triangle of Karpman. She outlines its three roles: rescuer, victim, and persecutor, and explains how these roles manifest in various relationship dynamics including business, co-founding partners, client relationships, and romantic partnerships. Sophie emphasizes the importance...

In this episode, Sophie Vo dives into the fifth self-sabotage pattern, known as the 'survivor syndrome,' where leaders prefer to do tasks alone and rarely ask for help. We revisit the previous patterns like shutting down intuition, people-pleasing, leading from fear, and having an empty cup. Sophie shares her personal story of growing up in an immigrant family where she had to take on responsibili...

In this episode, Sophie Vo Vo discusses the fourth self-sabotage pattern for leaders: having an 'empty cup,' and being depleted of energy. Many leaders operate in survival mode without realizing it, manifesting through signs like excessive fatigue, skipping breaks, poor sleep quality, and using free time for rest only, due to exhaustion. And then repeat the cycle. Burnout is around the corner… The...

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 actionabl...

In this episode of 'A Spark of Awareness,' the focus is on the second self-sabotage pattern: being a people pleaser. Sophie Vo, explores how people pleasing manifests in various behaviors such as avoiding conflicts, difficult conversations, struggling to say no, or over-explaining your boundaries. Through personal anecdotes, she highlights the cultural and psychological origins of people pleasing...

In this coaching reflection episode of ‘A Spark of Awareness,’ we dive deep into the vital role Intuition plays in creative leadership. In a world saturated with technology and external validation, it's easy to lose touch with our inner authority and self-mastery. This first episode highlights the #1 self-sabotage pattern: ignoring intuition. Many leaders today operate solely from the mind which i...

 Dear listeners, I am evolving The Rise and Play Podcast. Time has come. Over the past four years, your support, feedback, and presence have meant very much to me and through this work, we’ve explored the leadership lessons of more than 150 founders, CEOs and leaders in the gaming industry, and the podcast reflected the journey. I was living myself as a gaming executive and leader, learning alongs...

In this new coaching episode host Sophie Vo and co-host Maria Gillies are tackling the “Fear of Becoming You,” uncovering the profound themes surrounding leadership, self-awareness, and personal transformation. These themes have resonated particularly for women leaders navigating the complexities of authenticity and growth. Changing: The Paradoxes of Growth In our discussion, we delved into the pa...