A Journey Rooted in People and Expression

I’ve always been fascinated with people. Growing up on Vancouver Island on the West Coast of Canada, where the residents are known to be mostly likely “newlywed or nearly dead”, I made the most of a mundane childhood by carefully observing the people around me and trying to understand what drove their behaviours. From school to sports, daily interactions were a training ground for me to learn why people acted as they did. I would spend hours hypothesizing why others would act the way they did or say what they said. Over time, I started picking up on subtle verbal and non-verbal communication cues that provided me insight into the world’s hidden in every person. I quickly realized there were no boring people, just bad self-expression and storytelling. 

However, understanding others didn’t help much in my self-expression. I spent my teenage years guarded, shy, and awkward. There were so many things that I wanted to say, but they never came out the way I wanted them to. The relationships in my life were mostly stuck at a surface level, and no matter how much I tried, I couldn’t progress them further. Over time, I became more isolated, and my life felt more directionless. 

Everything changed in my early twenties. On paper, I was on the right track. I moved to a bigger city and started a job in tech consulting. However, I was miserable. Away from the only place I knew and managing the complexities of the workplace while facing grief from several personal tragedies, I felt the ground beneath me shift. Nothing from my upbringing could prepare me for these challenges. 

I knew I had to find a way to come out of my shell and communicate better if I had any hope of building the life I wanted. I started by turning inwards. I questioned many parts of my life and personality to get to the core of who I was and what I truly wanted out of life. Then I used everything I knew about human behaviour and learned how to tell my story in a way that would resonate with others. 

Almost instantaneously, I felt a difference in my relationships. The more I opened up to my friends and clearly expressed myself, the more they reached out and shared about themselves as well. Those surface-level relationships deepened and became friendships based on trust and respect. My confidence grew at work and my performance improved significantly as I communicated better. Even my relationship with my family deepened. Life started to feel more meaningful, intentional, and happy. I felt more like myself than I had ever felt before.

Learning to be more self-expressed felt like gaining a superpower. Those around me started to describe me as “extroverted”, “confident”, and “charismatic”. Words I would have never imagined anyone saying about me just a few years prior. It was the beginning of a journey that I remain on to this day. A journey that has led me to a 10+ year career as a marketer helping both Start-Ups and Fortune 500 companies across North America and Europe define how they express themselves and improve their relationships with customers. A journey that has led me to become a DE+I leader within one of the world’s biggest advertising organizations. Lastly, it is a journey that has led me to build relationships and communities that fill my life with meaning. 

Twin Sheep: Corey Leung’s Expression

This website and the idea of Twin Sheep are, at its core, an extension of my expression. Twin because of my Western Zodiac sign of Gemini. Sheep because of my Lunar Zodiac sign. While I’m not overly superstitious, I love the phrase Twin Sheep as an expression of my background as an ethnic Chinese born and raised in Canada, holding both Canadian and Portuguese passports. 

Being brought up in this intersection of cultures has always made me feel like both an outcast and one of the team. While this dichotomy has shown up in my life as a clash of cultures, I believe it’s also present in all people today. We all have things that make us feel like outcasts and things that connect us with society. Metaphorically, we all have black sheep and white sheep within us that make us unique. Twin Sheep is the idea that this contrast of ideas should be celebrated in our identity.

Part professional and part personal, Twin Sheep is where I discuss the different things that interest me. It’s where I share findings after I chase down each rabbit hole that informs and enriches my worldview. This means I will write about everything from the state of the advertising industry to music and relationships. Most importantly, it’s where I can authentically express myself and provide tools and strategies for others to improve their expression.