Brother Phap Khong (Brother Dharma Emptiness) was born in Vietnam and moved to the USA in 1975. Before becoming a monk, he lived in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania where he worked various banks for 23 years and held different international positions. In 1992, Br Phap Khong met Thay and started reading his books. He was so inspired that he began attending the sangha in Philadelphia, and in 2001 he attended the three-month winter retreat at Plum Village. Br. Phap Khong ordained as a novice monk in 2003 and became a Dharma teacher by Thich Nhat Hanh in 2010. He joined the Foundation in 2017, and he serves on the Legacy Funds committee, where he helps manage bequest gifts.

Br. Phap Khong currently resides at Blue Cliff Monastery in upstate New York where he has been serving the sangha for about 10 years. He speaks several languages, including English, Vietnamese, French, Spanish and some Mandarin. His interests include studying Buddhist psychology, modern neuroscience, sightseeing, taking photographs, and swimming.

A quote by Thich Nhat Hanh that inspires him is: “Mỗi bước chân đi vào Tịnh Đô” - “Each step is the Pure Land”.

Sister Hoc Nghiem (Sister True Practice) was born and raised in a small village in central Vietnam. She came to the US with her family as refugees in 1995, and they settled in Memphis, TN. At that time, she was 20 years old, and like other young adults, she went to school, hung out with friends, and searched for a more meaningful life. Inspired by Thay’s teachings when visiting a local Vietnamese temple, she ordained as a nun in May 2000 and a Dharma teacher in 2008 by Thich Nhat Hanh. Sr. Hoc Nghiem joined the Foundation Board in 2016 and currently serves on the Grants Committee for the Dharma Sharing Program.  

Sr. Hoc Nghiem has practiced in Plum Village, Green Mountain Dharma Center in Vermont, and Blue Cliff Monastery in New York.  She now lives at Magnolia Grove Monastery and deeply enjoys practicing mindfulness every day, experiencing the happiness of the Dharma, and helping others do the same. Her happiness increases when she sees more and more people come to this remote area of Mississippi to enjoy the Dharma.

A quote by Thich Nhat Hanh that inspires her is:  Whenever he was asked by children or adults why he wears brown or why he has to practice, he usually answers:  “I wear brown because I like it. I practice because I like it.”

Bruce Campbell has been practicing with the greater Plum Village community since 2005. Bruce ordained into the Order of Interbeing in 2009 with the Dharma name True Land of Faith. He has participated in numerous retreats with Thich Nhat Hanh and the community, including visits to Vietnam and India. Bruce and his wife spent a year living near Upper Hamlet in France. 

Professionally, Bruce leverages his experience as a corporate finance lawyer to make business and finance more responsive to the needs of Mother Earth and its inhabitants. His work includes developing investment funds for nonprofits and legally empowering historically oppressed groups in the context of business and investment transactions. Bruce founded a law firm that is organized as a workers’ cooperative and as a benefit corporation.

Bruce is enjoying the opportunity to play as a child again with his son Lane. He thrives in the outdoors, and particularly enjoys trail running and snowboarding. He is afflicted with a passion for politics and government.

A quote by Thich Nhat Hanh that inspires him is: “There is no way to enlightenment. Enlightenment is the way.”

Brian Clancy attended his first retreat with Thich Nhat Hanh and the Plum Village community in August 2002 at Stonehill College. After years as an impassioned supporter of the Thich Nhat Hanh Foundation work and mission, he joined the board in January 2020.

After graduating from Cornell University and the Harvard Business School, Brian spent his early career in the financial services industry. Among other roles, he served as the Chief Financial Officer for Fidelity Management and Research. Fifteen years ago, he shifted his focus to global poverty alleviation by working with microfinance pioneer Accion International and the Center for Financial Inclusion. He also served as the President of the Boston Public Library Foundation and is active in the civic renewal movement in the United States.

Brian is passionate about nature, libraries, tennis and bringing more compassion, deep listening and mutual respect to America’s political sphere. His Dharma name is Sincere Compassion of the Heart.

Quotes by Thich Nhat Hanh that inspire him are: “My actions are my only true belongings” and “We are here to awaken from our illusion of separateness.”

Jo Confino is an executive coach, facilitator, journalist, sustainability expert and Zen mindfulness practitioner. He works at the intersection of personal transformation and systems change; working with several organizations including Leaders’ Quest, Future Stewards and the United Nations Development Programme.

He is on the board of advisors for The Climate School and Force of Nature, a youth climate activist organization. He is also a trustee of Theatre for a Change, whose purpose is the empowerment of women and girls, particularly in their sexual and reproductive health. Besides chairing and facilitating events and conferences all over the world for the past 20 years, he also runs smaller workshops and roundtables.

Jo has worked closely for the past 14 years with Zen Master Thich Nhat Hanh and his monastic community in Plum Village, France and is chair of the board of Parallax Press, which publishes books on mindfulness in daily life.

Until recently, he was executive editor, Impact & Innovation and Editorial Director of What’s Working at the HuffPost in New York. During his five years there, he developed long-term editorial projects based on social, environmental and economic justice and was a member of the senior leadership team. Before joining HuffPost, he was an executive editor of the Guardian and chairman and editorial director of the Guardian Sustainable Business website. During his 23 years at the Guardian, he set up and managed a unique multi-stakeholder development project in the Ugandan village of Katine, and helped create the Guardian’s environment and global development websites.

Jo also created and managed the sustainability vision and strategy for the Guardian and its parent company Guardian Media Group. He is a fellow of the Royal Society for the encouragement of Arts, Manufactures and Commerce and completed an MSc in Responsibility and Business Practice at the University of Bath.

A quote by Thich Nhat Hanh that inspires him is: "You carry Mother Earth within you. She is not outside of you. Mother Earth is not just your environment."

Ron Forster is a founding member of Friends of Deer Park Monastery, co-facilitates the Really Beneficial Sangha, and was a lead coordinator and fundraiser for the Deer Park Ridge land protection. Ron ordained into the Order of Interbeing in 2011 with the Dharma name True Ocean of Courage.

Ron has served on the Thich Nhat Hanh Foundation Board for several years. He is grateful to offer his professional experience, MBA and 30-plus years of marketing and business experience, to support the Foundation Board – first as the Financial Committee chair and now as Lay Co-Chair. He is also on the board of the Escondido Creek Conservancy, a group that protects natural habitat and provides environmental education for children. 

Through Thich Nhat Hanh’s teachings, Ron recognizes our need for a collective awakening as a society for our future to be possible. Whenever possible, Ron enjoys being at Deer Park with the monastics and lay practitioners, and helping connect people (particularly young people) with nature is his deepest aspiration . He lives in Escondido, California and enjoys gardening and nature photography.

A quote by Thich Nhat Hanh that inspires him is: "If we can ground ourselves, become one with the Earth and treat her with care, she will nourish us and heal our bodies and mind." From Love Letter to the Earth

Dr. Leslie Gordon is a 27-year student of Thich Nhat Hanh. Leslie ordained as a member of the Order of Interbeing in 2011 with the Dharma name True Forest Sangha. Leslie is a facilitator of the Magnolia Sangha in Memphis, TN, and has served on various Plum Village community boards in Washington DC, Pennsylvania, and Tennessee. His mindfulness practice has nurtured, inspired and empowered him in his professional and personal life.

Leslie has wide experience in clinical and interpersonal relations with children and incarcerated individuals. He has maintained a dental practice for adults and children for over forty years, and worked in a medium-security prison for eight years. He is a 1972 graduate of Howard University, College of Dentistry, and served his internship in Oral and Maxillo Facial Surgery at Georgetown College of Dentistry in 1973.

For fifty-two years, the center of Leslie’s life has been his family: his wife, Fay, and their four children and two grandchildren. Leslie was born in Kingston, Jamaica and has been a vegan since 1980.

A quote by Thich Nhat Hanh that inspires him is: “You are, therefore I am.”

Judith Kendra learned to meditate in Thailand in 1990 and has practiced in a variety of traditions since then. She has attended a number of retreats and talks given by Thich Nhat Hanh over the years, and found each one to be profound, powerful and inspiring.

After gaining an MA in Social Anthropology from Edinburgh University, Judith trained as a commissioning editor in various London publishing companies. She then worked for the non-profit organisation, Minority Rights Group International before, in 1999, being made Publishing Director of the Rider list at Penguin Random House. Here she was very fortunate to be able to publish many of Thay’s books throughout the British Commonwealth, as well as titles by the Dalai Lama, Jack Kornfield, Desmond Tutu and Rick Hanson, among many others. She left the company in 2018 to take a diploma in Asian Art at SOAS.

She loves walking in the countryside, travel (especially in India and South-East Asia), trees and…dancing.

A quote from Thich Nhat Hanh that inspires her is: “There is a revolution that needs to happen, and it starts from inside each one of us.”

Minh-Châu Lê has been part of the beloved Plum Village community since 1996 and joined the Thich Nhat Hanh Foundation Board in 2016.

She is currently pursuing a PhD in history at Columbia University with a focus on twentieth century Vietnamese and US history, decolonization, and global migration. Her dissertation will be on the South Vietnamese Buddhist movement during the Vietnam War. Before starting her doctoral studies, Minh-Châu worked for four years as a digital campaigner and nonprofit strategy consultant in New York City -- collaborating with a range of organizations focused on refugee resettlement, women's rights, gun reform, creative technology, and civic participation.  

Minh-Châu enjoys being near bodies of water, taking care of plants, playing guitar, reading, singing, and writing. She is inspired by people who are fiercely compassionate and grounded in love. She was ordained in the Order of Interbeing with the name Chân Biểu Thiện (True Manifestation of Goodness).

A quote by Thích Nhất Hạnh that inspires her is: "Love and understanding are not only concepts and words. They must be real things, realized in oneself and society."

Michael Melancon is a guiding practice leader and meditation teacher for Two Palms Up Mindfulness Community in Palm Springs California, as well as for daily Morning Light Sangha online. Michael’s primary teachers have been Thich Nhat Hanh and Dharmacharya Eileen Kiera, who together ordained Michael into the Order of Interbeing in 2005. Thầy gave Michael the Dharma name Chân Niệm Quang . . . True Recollection of Light. Michael also owes a deep debt of gratitude to Roshi Jack Duffy, husband of his teacher, Eileen. Michael practiced seven- and 21-day retreats and sesshin with Eileen and Jack for nearly 20 years at Mountain Lamp Community in the Mount Baker Foothills of Washington State. He knows intimately the value of deepening through retreat and holding the practice forms of our Plum Village Tradition.

Over the years, Michael has learned to include many voices in his spiritual training. He is therefore also indebted to the many nuns, monks, and Dharmacharya of the Mindfulness Tradition, who have offered light on the path. He is especially grateful for his long friendship with Dharmacharya Trish Thompson, founder of the Loving Work Foundation, with whom Michael offered meditation and work retreats in Thầy's homeland of Vietnam from 2014 to 2019. Finally, Michael studied with his beloved teacher Joan Halifax Roshi, with whom he took the Five Wonderful Precepts (now the Five Mindfulness Trainings) in 1995. Michael is also indebted to the broad faculty of Upaya Zen Institute’s Chaplaincy Program, where he was ordained as a chaplain in 2011 with a specialty in end-of-life care. He also enjoyed a 30-year career as a human resources and organizational effectiveness strategist. 

Michael is a board member, practice leader, and meditation teacher for Radiant Light Zen and Wise Caregiving, through which he and Jonathan Prescott (Chân Niệm Minh) teach mindfulness practitioners and caregivers contemplative care techniques and tools. 

With Thầy’s words, “My life is my message,” Michael is reminded that he too aspires to live a life that is the Dharma embodied. As much or more powerful than anything Thầy has said or written, his most impactful teachings for Michael were simply watching Thầy enjoy a cup of tea while giving a Dharma talk, and observing how he walked slowly and with purpose across campus on his way to offer a public talk. Nowhere to go; home in every step.

Loan Nguyen was born into a devout Catholic family in Saigon, Vietnam and came to the U.S. as a refugee in May 1975. Loan grew up mostly in Southern California and lived for a decade in South Florida, with short term residences in Taiwan and China. 

Her first career was in Human Resources Management. When she became a mom, Loan went back to school for an elementary educator graduate degree, and taught in China before relocating to New York. Currently, Loan works with PFLAG NYC, a nonprofit organization supporting parents, families, friends and allies of LGBTQ individuals, using her personal experience as mom to her queer daughter to help provide a pathway to greater understanding.

In the Fall of 2011 Loan attended her first U.S. Tour Retreat at Magnolia Grove. She quickly recognized the depth of the Plum Village tradition, the Sangha’s embodiment of the practice of mindfulness, and her precious Vietnamese heritage. Under the mentorship of Dharma Teachers Chân Vân and Chân Hùyên, alongside Xóm Dùa, a Vietnamese Sangha in Orange Country, Loan joined the Order of Interbeing in October 2015 and received the Dharma name True Garden of Precious Flower. Now in Manhattan, Loan practices with Middle Way and Riverside Sanghas and in 2019 co-founded AFC Sangha for homeless LGBTQ youth in Brooklyn.

Reflecting on her life journey, Loan knows that her path is one of service. Since being a student of Thich Nhat Hanh’s, she has found numerous opportunities in her daily living to deepen the practice of living in mindfulness while nourishing her own bodhicitta with joy and compassion.

A quote by Thich Nhat Hanh that inspires her is: “Darling, I am here for you.”

Anne Piotet was born and raised on the shores of Lake Geneva in Switzerland, where she still resides. She first met the teachings of the Buddha while studying sinology as a mature student at the University of Geneva, when she fell in love with classical Chinese poetry and especially Wang Wei. It is poetry that inspired her to become a practitioner in the Chinese Chan tradition. It was only many years later, in 2012, that she had the good fortune to meet the Plum Village tradition and the teachings of Thay. She knew then that she had found her true home and that her spiritual roots grew in New Hamlet, France. Since then, she returns twice or thrice yearly, mainly as a volunteer, and especially enjoys being on the staff for the summer teens retreat. 

Anne practices with her local sangha and was ordained as an OI member in 2016 with the aspiration to be of service for the monastic Sangha. She received the name True Flower of Gratitude.

Anne graduated initially in mathematics. Before her retirement in the fall of 2021, she had a career as civil servant at the federal and cantonal levels. She was active in the field of social security, initially specializing in mathematical modelling of population, financial models, financial longterm forecasting and sustainability, then branching out in the design, implementation, and supervision of internal control systems. 

Since her retirement, she enjoys having more time for her granddaughters and for the practice. She is a keen musician, playing both baroque transverse flute and viola da gamba. She is also in love with mountains and lakes and feels deeply grateful to Mother Earth.

It is impossible for Anne to choose only one quote by our beloved teacher. Here are two that stay with her as mantras: "La Terre est le plus bel endroit du Ciel" and "I am arrived, I am home, in the ultimate I dwell".

Meena Srinivasan is the Founding Executive Director of Transformative Educational Leadership (TEL) and is one of Mindful Magazine’s 2022 Ten Powerful Women of the Mindfulness Movement.

She is a National Board Certified Teacher, has taught and led in a variety of school settings (public, private, urban, international), and holds a Clear Administrative Services Credential in the state of California. She is the creator of the SEL Every Day online courses, author of Teach, Breathe, Learn:Mindfulness In and Out of the Classroom (Parallax Press 2014) and SEL Every Day: IntegratingSEL with Instruction in Secondary Classrooms (Norton, 2019), which was chosen as one of 2019’s Favorite Books for Educators by the Greater Good Science Center at UC Berkeley.

Meena was featured in Educational Leadership Magazine on Mindful School Leadership and the Benefits of Meditation for School Leaders. She has been practicing yoga and meditation for more than 25 years, is a student of the late Professor Ramchandra Gandhi (Mahatma Gandhi’s grandson), and was ordained into the Tiep Hien Lineage in 2010. She lives in Southern California with her husband, Emmy nominated filmmaker, Chihiro, and their young son, Kailash. Learn more at meenasrinivasan.com. 

A quote by Thich Nhat Hanh that inspires her is: “Mindfulness must be engaged. Once there is seeing, there must be acting. Otherwise, what's the use of seeing?"

Steve Suellentrop was deeply inspired by the ear-to-ear smiles on two of his friends who had just returned from the summer retreat at Plum Village France in 2018. He decided to attend his first retreat knowing nothing about Buddhism or Thich Nhat Hanh. Having deeply touched a new path, he decided to leave his corporate role the day he returned and has been guided by the practice ever since. He received the Dharma Name “Peaceful Earth of the Heart” at Deer Park Monastery.

Steve has practiced with Wake Up San Francisco, New Gen (Oakland/Berkeley, CA), and Rooted River Wake Up Sangha (St. Louis, MO). He is passionate about sangha building in the Wake Up community. He loves hiking in nature, playing guitar around a campfire, and using airplane mode on his phone.

Steve worked as a business strategy consultant for five years in Chicago and London. He has also worked in product management/marketing in mental health technology for both a 5,000-person company and a two-person startup. He studied industrial engineering at Northwestern University and business at the University of Chicago. A corporate dropout (twice), he is passionate about transforming his own busy-ness habit energies for the benefit to all beings.

A quote by Thich Nhat Hanh that inspires him is: “Are you sure?”

Executive Director

Denise Nguyen first met Thich Nhat Hanh as a teenager in 1986. After several years practicing and attending retreats at Plum Village Monastery, she ordained into the Order of Interbeing in 1991, receiving the Dharma name True Moon Lamp. In addition to being a founding Board member of the Thich Nhat Hanh Foundation, Denise has partnered and collaborated with civic leaders, technology companies, universities, community-based organizations, and film companies to organize mindfulness events for Thich Nhat Hanh and his monastic community for the past 30 years. She has also appeared in two documentaries about the teachings of Thich Nhat Hanh:  Peace is Every Step: Meditation in Action and Colors of Compassion. Denise is a founding member of the Los Angeles Compassionate Heart Sangha and has helped grow and mentor other mindfulness practice groups in Southern California. She was humbled to be ordained a Dharma teacher by Thich Nhat Hanh in 2014.

Denise received her Master's degree in Health Policy and Management at the Harvard School of Public Health and has experience applying program, project, and business management skills to companies such as Partners HealthCare and Kaiser Permanente. She lives in Los Angeles, California where she enjoys brush lettering, reading, cheering on the Boston Red Sox, and willing her garden plantings to grow despite her black thumb.

A quote by Thich Nhat Hanh that inspires her is: "To be beautiful means to be yourself. You don't need to be accepted by others. You need to accept yourself." From The Art of Power.

GLOBAL GIVING DIRECTOR

Christina Walker practices with the Florida Community of Mindfulness. During her 30+ year career, she has worked with nonprofits around the world in the fields of conservation, international development, global health, and human services.

Christina was recently the Director of Conservation Leadership for The Nature Conservancy’s Latin America Region where she headed its philanthropy, marketing, corporate engagement, and board development efforts. Christina also served as the Conservancy’s Chief Philanthropy Officer where she planned and launched their first billion-dollar-plus capital campaign.

Christina has a master’s degree in International Relations from the University of South Carolina and a certificate in sustainable development from Goddard College.

She has a lifelong, passionate commitment to the environment and loves spending her time exploring the world’s wild places. She lives in Sarasota, Florida with her husband. They have three grown children who they don’t get to see often enough, but their two kitties and local alligator keep them entertained. As a member of the Order of Interbeing, Christina’s Dharma name is True Garden of Suchness.

A quote by Thich Nhat Hanh that inspires her is from a moment when he was asked at a retreat Q&A what makes him happy, and he replied, “I am always happy.”

FINANCE DIRECTOR

Christian Stolz first discovered Thay’s teachings in college, rediscovered them over a decade later, and now practices with the Mountain Mindfulness Sangha in Asheville, North Carolina.

Christian has spent his career delivering the essential back-office systems and processes that allow organizations to function. He was most recently the Director of Finance & Operations for Dogwood Alliance, a regional organization working at the intersection of forest protection, climate change, and environmental justice. Prior to that, he spent many years in international development, living and working in thirteen countries on four continents, primarily focused on conflict mitigation and post-conflict recovery. He has a master’s degree from the University of Birmingham in the UK and a bachelor’s degree from St. Lawrence University.

Christian is an avid reader, an aspiring writer, a mediocre but enthusiastic yoga practitioner, and a passionate lover of music. He has also served on his county board of elections since 2019. He and his spouse Emily have a loquacious husky mix named Ebi, the latest in a series of charismatic creatures in their lives.

A quote from Thich Nhat Hanh that inspires him is: “You have enough.” 

COMMUNICATIONS DIRECTOR

Stephen Pradarelli fell in love with Thay’s teachings many years ago, and in 2015 he attended a retreat led by lay Dharma teachers Jack Lawlor and Cheri Maples, followed in 2016 by his first visit to Plum Village. These experiences inspired him to establish the Winding Path Sangha in Iowa City, Iowa, where he’s lived since 1999. In September 2023, Stephen was ordained into the Order of Interbeing at Magnolia Grove Monastery and was given the Dharma name True Earth of Joy. He has bachelor’s and master’s degrees in journalism from the University of South Carolina and the University of Wisconsin and spent 13 years as a newspaper reporter and editor before leading media relations, crisis management, and strategic communications for the University of Iowa.

Stephen serves or has previously served on the boards of the Iowa City Free Lunch Program and Peace Iowa and has volunteered for the local homeless shelter, CommUnity Crisis Services, local hospice facilities, and the Domestic Violence Intervention Program. In his free time, he hikes, camps, kayaks, skis cross-country, plays guitar, and enjoys creative writing.

A quote by Thich Nhat Hạnh that inspires Stephen is: "The mind can go in a thousand directions, but on this beautiful path, I walk in peace. With each step, the wind blows. With each step, a flower blooms."

COMMUNICATIONS COORDINATOR

Katie Cannon found Thay’s teachings by accident. She was in a bookstore and realized she knew very little about Eastern religions so she picked up a book by a Vietnamese monk whose name she couldn’t pronounce. Many books later (and after learning how to pronounce Thich Nhat Hanh), she started practicing with the Mindfulness Practice Center of Fairfax under the wonderful guidance of Anh-Huong and Thu Nguyen. She received the Five Mindfulness Trainings in 2015 with the Dharma name Emerald Mountain of the Source.

Professionally, her experience is as a museum educator in the Washington, DC area, where she learned to communicate effectively with a wide variety of people from different age groups and cultural backgrounds. She earned a bachelor’s degree in anthropology and a master’s degree in museum studies.

Now Katie lives in Ohio, where she tends a small farm using regenerative agriculture, with the help of some sheep and honey bees. She enjoys spending time with her husband and their many pets and working on textile projects as a spinner and weaver.

Quotes from Thich Nhat Hanh that inspire her are: “Are you sure?” and “You have enough.”

Annual GIVING Manager

Bobbi Perez began meditating in 2003, which sparked excitement for the Dharma. She has since studied with many teachers at Spirit Rock Meditation Center and was a member of the Marin Sangha before moving to Sonoma County where she sits with the Sonoma Mountain Zen Sangha and the Bhikkhunis at Dhammadharini Monastery. Her meditation practice has been focused on concentration, access concentration and integration of practice into daily life. She has a profound appreciation for Thay’s poetic teachings on compassion, joy, and continuity of practice. Bobbi’s Dharma name is Flower of Compassion.

Bobbi has a B.A. in Humanities & Religious Studies at California State University, Sacramento. Her passion in life is raising funds to help improve the lives of all beings. She has been working in non-profit development for 13 years. Bobbi recently worked with Marin Humane as Donor Relations Manager focused on major gifts. Prior to that, she served as Development Manager at Spirit Rock Meditation Center where she stewarded the Sangha of Thousands of Buddhas and raised funds to help build a new community meditation hall, teacher’s village and administrative buildings

In her spare time, Bobbi enjoys singing, drawing, writing poetry, and spending time with her husband and her daughter, Aurora.

Quotes by Thich Nhat Hanh that inspire her are: “Awareness is like the sun. When it shines on things, they are transformed” and “There is no enlightenment outside of daily life.”

Development Associate

Binh Ha was born and raised in Hue City, Vietnam and moved to the U.S. in 2019. When she was young, she practiced at local pagodas in Hue with her mother, and those experiences had a significant impact on her life, shaping her into the person she is today. She was given the name Thích Quảng Định. Binh later discovered the teachings of Thich Nhat Hanh and found inspiration in Thay's teachings on mindfulness and the art of living joyfully in present moments. Her favorite books by Thay are No Mud, No Lotus and Being Peace.

Binh has a master’s degree in Nonprofit Management and Leadership at Grand Valley State University in Grand Rapids, Michigan. She was most recently the Senior Development Coordinator at Partners In Health where she advocated for better health care for the underprivileged.

Outside of work, Binh’s life is filled with simple joys. She enjoys walking her dog, Boba, teaching her daughter about Vietnamese culture, cooking, gardening, reading, and making origami.

A quote by Thich Nhat Hanh that inspires her is: “Waking up this morning, I smile. Twenty-four brand new hours are before me. I vow to live fully in each moment and to look at all beings with eyes of compassion.”