Life leads you along many paths.

I was born in Hai Duong, when it was still a quiet agricultural town not far from Hanoi. My father worked in a ceramics factory and my mother spent her days working in the textile trade. Despite the post war poverty and rationing of food, our home was full of life. I remember running through the narrow alleyways with my friends and the chatter of gossip in the food ration queue. We didn’t have much, but we made the most of what we had. I grew up surrounded by community, the strength of family, and a love for the outdoors.

From an early age, I was drawn to stories, especially those from the mountains. There was something about the highlands that felt more free, more alive. I didn’t know then that I would one day make my life in Sapa, living and working alongside the very communities I had only heard about in textbooks and fleeting news reports.

I studied tourism at the Hanoi University of Culture. From the very beginning, I saw tourism not simply as an industry, but as a tool for connection. I wanted visitors to understand Vietnam; not only its landscapes, but its people. Especially the communities that had long been overlooked, misrepresented, or misunderstood.

During a university field trip to Mai Chau, I met Phil. He was based in Hanoi and working on an early ETHOS project. Like myself, he preferred the quiet of countryside life, so wanted to escape the noise and chaos of the city. That evening, my classmates and I grasped the opportunity to speak with the “travelling Englishman”. While most of my friends asked where he was from or what he did for work, I decided to ask something different. I asked if he had a dental plan. It made him laugh and that was our first conversation.

Phil and I began meeting regularly in Hanoi and soon travelled to Sapa together. Our visits became more frequent and I soon changed from travelling as tourist to visititing with intention. We walked the mountain paths with Hmong girls, most of whom worked informally as trekking guides. They knew the land with a depth that maps could not capture. They understood the weather, the wild plants, the unspoken etiquette of the trail. These children became our teachers. Over time, they became close friends. Eventually, they became like family.

ETHOS grew out of those relationships. From the beginning, it was never about building a business in the conventional sense. It was about creating something rooted in dignity, mutual learning, and respect. Phil and I believed that tourism could empower women from ethnic minority communities if it was structured ethically. But doing it properly meant doing it differently.

The early years were filled with obstacles. The government began issuing new laws around trekking and guiding. These laws changed frequently and were often ambiguous, leaving us unsure of how to stay compliant. Most of our guides had little or no formal education. Many could not read or write in Vietnamese, let alone navigate the complexity of permits, ID papers, or contracts. Some had never held a bank card. The rules seemed designed without people like them in mind.

At the same time, we were trying to register ETHOS as a social enterprise in my name. It was a legal category that barely existed at the time, and every step forward required long explanations and repeated trips to government offices. The process was exhausting. Regulations contradicted each other. The landscape of law changed faster than it could be translated. It felt, at times, like trying to swim up a waterfall.

We adapted. We trained our guides in first aid, safety, and risk assessment. We developed oral and practical teaching tools to support women with low literacy. We created workshops around hygiene, nutrition, and basic healthcare. We taught through action, not paperwork. Even now, we continue this work, because as one barrier is overcome, another appears. That is the reality of working in a rapidly developing country where law, culture, and community values do not always align. Still, we held firm.

In 2013, we restructured ETHOS as a fully sustainable and ethical social impact business. Our mission sharpened, our systems matured, and our vision deepened. We moved from reacting to problems to designing solutions for long-term community benefit. We became more than a tour company. We became a hub for ethical travel and social impact. ETHOS now offers immersive, private experiences: trekking, motorbike loops, foraging walks, village stays, traditional herbal medicine, and workshops in batik, indigo dyeing, and brocade. Every experience is co-created with our local partners. Our guides are mothers, farmers, healers, and storytellers. They are not staff. They are collaborators. Many are now leaders in their own right.

Alongside the tourism work, we run numerous social initiatives. These include human trafficking prevention, waste reduction, cultural education, literacy support, and gender-based health training. One of our first major programmes involved helping women generate income by upcycling old hotel linens. Another supports communities in giving voice to tradition. Working with elders, artisans and craftspeople, our goal is to capture traditional knowledge through video and conversation. Folktales, techniques, and lived histories are shared, preserved, and passed on. ETHOS guides take part in the process, deepening their connection to heritage while learning from those who came before. In partnership with bloggers, anthropologists and cultural creatives, we bring these stories to a wider audience.

Some of our most transformative work emerged from the story of two girls: Cha and So.

We first met Cha when she was a small child in a remote village, born during a storm and nearly swept away by floodwaters on the night she entered the world. Her family faced unimaginable hardship: poverty, addiction, domestic violence. She came into our care after becoming seriously ill and has been with us ever since. Today, she is thriving; working full time with ETHOS, studying through open university, and leading our trafficking prevention programmes.

So, her sister in all but blood, came into our lives at a similar time. She was fiery, curious, endlessly clever. We taught her to ride a bicycle. She taught us how to make sticky rice in bamboo. For a while, she flourished. But the instability of her school and the danger of unsupervised spaces pulled her away. At just thirteen, she dropped out and disappeared. Months later, she called from the Chinese border. She had been trafficked, sold, and imprisoned, but she had escaped. Phil and I drove through the night to bring her home.

Their stories shaped us. They moved ETHOS from intention to action. From supporting girls to protecting them. From guiding treks to confronting trafficking. Today, our prevention programmes are delivered in the Hmong language and led by young women like Cha to reach thousands of girls across the district. This is part of the heart of ETHOS.

Phil, my husband, has been my partner in every sense. His steady commitment and sense of justice have helped us navigate storms I could not have faced alone. His background in conservation and community work brought a level of thoughtfulness that has shaped our values. But more than that, he became a father figure to girls who needed one. Together, we have built a life that is bigger than either of us imagined.

ETHOS is still based in Sapa. We work across the surrounding border belt region, in close partnership with ethnic minority communities. We now have 13 guides and support over 200 families. Our tours are consistently rated among the best in Vietnam, not because they are polished, but because they are honest. When guests travel with us, they walk into lived experience. They are welcomed as humans, not customers.

Phil and I have one child of our own, Kai, and our lives are full of warmth and family. The women we started with are now confident mothers, leaders, and entrepreneurs. The younger girls who once walked behind us now walk ahead, leading guests through sacred forests and ancient paths. The children we met as teenagers are now teachers and skilled artisans. The growth we’ve witnessed is our greatest reward.
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This story is still being written. The work continues. The challenges evolve. But I believe, now more than ever, that ethical travel can be a force for dignity, understanding, and justice.

This is my ETHOS story, and the journey continues - step by step, with purpose and heart.