S1,E3: Cameron and Ying Nance - Part 1 - Small Lake City

Episode Transcript
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Erik Nilsson (00:00):
What is up everybody and welcome back to
the Small Lake City podcast.
I'm your host, eric Nilsson,and here we are at Episode 3.
So for today I have one of myfavorite stories I've recorded
so far.
It's a real treat.
It's the story of Cameron andYang Nance and how they ended up
starting a family in Salt LakeCity, utah.
How they started theirrespective businesses bespoke

(00:21):
custom clothing and Chubby Bakerdonuts and it's a wild ride.
I mean starting with Cam beingborn and raised here, serving a
mission in Thailand, going backto essentially be the English
teacher for the Dalai Lama ofThailand, being in Thai TV shows
, starting his own business,meeting Yang, and how their
relationship got started andended up here Now.

(00:42):
One thing to note is theconversation is a little long.
I didn't want to miss any ofthe fun details because it is
such an amazing story.
So it's going to be broken downinto two parts, with part one
releasing today and part tworeleasing next week.
So make sure to stay tuned tohear the rest of it and hope you
really enjoy this one.
So super excited today to havetwo of my really good friends on

(01:04):
the podcast, cam and Yang Nance.
When I was originally thinkingabout the podcast and thinking
about a lot of the cool storiesthat I know of theirs was one of
the first that came to mind.
Not only are they making I meana huge impact in Salt Lake and
it's such an entrepreneurial way, but just the heart of their
story of finding themselves hereis both inspiring, heartwarming

(01:27):
and endearing.
So super excited to have themhere and tell their story and
all the fun stuff that they'reworking on.
So welcome guys, excited tohave you here, hi.

Cameron Nance (01:35):
Hey, thanks for having us.
Thank you for the kind words.

Ying Nance (01:38):
We feel and the coffee.

And the coffee, yes.

Most importantly, the coffee.
We're actually sitting in theirhome, new home in Draper, utah.
They're starting to build theirbudding family and you go from
one bedroom a town home andstart to expect your second, and
that's when time and spacebecome more and more valuable
and sleep becomes more and morevaluable.
So, oh yeah.

When she started walking.
We're like this place is notbig enough, another one.

Ying Nance (02:05):
And also like we need places for my family to
come visit, so that old housewas not an option yeah and now
we got something better, yep.

So for those who don't know Cam and Ying, we'll
get into the fun details ofeverything, but they have
started their own two businesseshere in Utah Chubby Baker
Donuts and Bespoke Suits, orwhat, what is?

bespoke custom clothing.

Bespoke custom clothing.
So Chubby Baker and Bespokecustom clothing Very inspiring
stories in their own, but thenyou put it all together and it's
, I mean, almost movie-esque.
I might buy the rights to it atsome point to make my own HBO
limited special or Netflix store, but we'll.
We can settle out the detailslater.
We don't have to go throughthat right now, For sure You've

(02:53):
got exclusive rights.
Definitely I'll get that inwriting after, don't you worry,
so cool.
So, as always, we always loveto know how our guests got to
Utah and founded themselves, andwe'll kind of go in
chronological order to help tellthe story a little bit better
and start with the cam side ofthings and start to bring in
Ying when she starts to comeinto the story.
But she can also add her pointof view throughout it all of how

(03:16):
it became such a momentousexperience for her in moving
here.
So, cam, so I mean, obviouslyyou're born and raised in Salt
Lake, but what part of thevalley are you from?
What did life look like?
Any hobbies, activities thatyou participated in?

Yeah, so I grew up in Mill Creek.
I was in Highland boundariesbut everyone in my neighborhood
went to Olympus High so Itransferred to that district
just because that's where all myfriends were going.
It was great.
Growing up in Salt Lake wasawesome.
I had a great childhood, greatfriends, great neighborhood,
great community.

(03:54):
As far as activities, I mean, Iplayed basketball my sophomore
year at Olympus and thenfootball my sophomore and senior
year.
But like I didn't start oranything like that, I just kind
of I enjoyed playing and it wasdid it largely for the social
life, Nice.

So how many siblings did you grow up with?

I'm the oldest of four.
I have two little sisters andone little brother.

Were you pretty close with them or you're mostly
hanging out with friends?
What did that look like?

Growing up.
Yeah, we were always prettyclose, honestly, with my little
brother.
He's the youngest and we'relike eight years apart and we
didn't get close until he hithigh school just because there
was such an age gap.
But with my two sisters we,yeah, we've been closer whole
life.
I mean, we see my little sisterHaleen like every other day

(04:43):
almost.
I work out with her husbandevery morning.
So, yeah, siblings were great.
Parents were together up untilI was like 25.
So I grew up in a two parenthousehold, which is,
statistically speaking, a hugeimpact just having that and you
know great neighborhood.

And then, yeah, and obviously I know, knowing
you better than most, I knowthat comic books, Marvel, that
was a big part of your life.
Dragonball, dragonball you haveall of your collections still,
probably boxes on boxes,probably a whole corner of a
garage.

I'll show you my office that I'm working on
downstairs.
Yeah, I got a lot of cool stuff.

I love that as Ying shakes her head.

Yeah, when we moved into our, I've got like a
lot of Dragonball Z figurinesand she's like you cannot have
these in the house, so I putthem all in my office.
But she let me have two in ourbedroom because, like the color
scheme.

Ying Nance (05:43):
I see it looking at me every night.

Just Frieza, glaring at you.

Ying Nance (05:46):
Yeah.

He's probably Vegeta, if I know it was.
I like how he's looking, yep.

Vegeta's the best .
So, yeah, a huge comic booknerd, Dragonball Z I love to
draw, Like yeah, I mean as faras like the and as far as the
lore goes, as far as comic books, Star Wars, like I kind of know
the ins and outs of a lot ofthat stuff, Totally Like it kind
of obsessive about nerd nerddomand hobbies that I enjoy.

And I always respect that that's something,
because I know there's alwaysone thing that kind of rubs me
wrong and growing up in that,and I've seen it in lots of
friends but it's like they havethis picture of who they need to
be as an adult and it's like,oh well, I'm in my thirties now
or I have kids now, so I can'tdo this, this or this.
But in reality, like I'm thesame person to an extent that I
was when I was a kid, teenagertwenties, thirties, oh yeah.

(06:36):
Like some of those same thingsI love are still today.
Like there's so many things Inerd out about from like I mean
video games, I mean anime andall those fun things.

Well, dude, one of the best parts about being an
adult is I can afford all thestuff I wanted when I was
younger.
Yes, I've been purchasing, likegraded Pokemon cards.

Hell yeah.

Yeah, saving up for a first edition shadowless
Charizard.
I told her the price and she'slike are you kidding me?

She's like oh, another house, yeah, exactly.

So I've been buying just like the little bit
less expensive ones.
Yeah, it's just fun because,like you don't have to give that
stuff up and it sucks whenpeople are like, oh yeah, I left
that go.
I'm like why?

Like why that's like made you joyful.
Yeah, exactly.
So at least your mom didn'trandomly give all your Pokemon
cards to the DI.
Did she do that?
Yeah, I was like because, like,do you remember when you know,
like year or two ago, whenPokemon cards like this whole
resurgence just came back, I waslike all right, let's go find
them.
Yeah, look under my bed, whereI knew they were in my old room.
I was like they're not there.
I'm like, hey, mom, like whereare they?

(07:34):
She's like oh, it took them tothe DI.
You didn't want them, right?

I was like it's like that was like a record
scratch.

Moment of like I'm like cool.
I had my shiny Charizard and myshiny Blastoise, my shiny Venus
.

So like, yeah, so I bought a.
I bought right before I left tomy mission.
I bought a like a high gradeCharizard card and put it in my
collection and my littlebrother's friend stole it while
I was on my mission.
I came home and it was justmissing.
Oh, that was like oh, my gosh,brandon.
So, yeah, right, ying.

Ying Nance (08:09):
Well, we don't know who stole it.

You can't really say I know who stole it, I know,
we know.
I don't even know who I had it.

Oh, I love that.
So, yes, let's talk aboutmission.
So where did you go on yourmission?
What years was that between?

I left on my mission 2000, april 2008.
And I went to Thailand.

What parts of Thailand were you in
specifically?

So the mission technically entail like includes
Thailand, myanmar and Laos, butLaos and Myanmar aren't open to
the missionaries, so it's justmainly Bangkok and then outside
of like north and northeast ofBangkok.
So Bangkok, obviously massivecity, there's like 17 million

(08:51):
people there.

A little bigger than Salt Lake.

A little bigger than Salt Lake, but the majority
of the population I thinkthere's 70 million in Thailand
now the majority live outside ofBangkok, but it's just like
that's that one hub andeverything else is just kind of
rural small city.
I spent most of mine like inthe rural part.

Okay, and did you like that more than the city?

Oh yeah, Absolutely it was, I don't know.
I just felt kind ofdisconnected from everything.
You know what I mean.
Yeah.

Especially compared to, like the childhood
you had, like that's got to besuch a difference culture, oh
yeah.

Well, I got super lucky because growing up I was
pretty.
I loved Asian culture.
So in Bangkok there's the GrandPalace.
It's like the palace and it'sright next to this really famous
like temple, massive templegrounds, gorgeous, gold plated.
It was my I didn't know whereit was in high school, but on my

(09:43):
laptop it was my wallpaper forlike two, three years.

This is before your mission.

Before my mission , I didn't even know where this
was.
I would just look up like Asiantemples and I would like plot.

I'd post a picture Great.

Wall of China and then also like the gold
pavilion in Kyoto, japan.
I love that place so I justloved it.
I love, like my favorite, oneof my favorite movies it's top
three is the Last Samurai.
I watched that so much in highschool.
Just like his adventure, likenot finding himself in this in
the States and all the issues,and then he goes to a simple

(10:17):
life in like rural Japan andlike I guess, like absorbs their
values and then fights for it.
Yeah, it's crazy, like I love,absolutely loved it.
So Before I got my call, I justremember thinking I didn't want
to go stateside or to Brazil,because that's where all my
friends were going Totally, andit was Bangkok and I was like I

(10:37):
don't even know where that isand I googled it I think,
google's, I think.
Then, right, yeah, looked it upand then what popped up was
that my background.
I was like whoa, that's trippy,yeah, so, and yeah, it was
great two years there and thatthat single decision led to Like
everything in my life now, likeliterally everything that I'm

(11:00):
doing, who I'm, with Furtherexperiences is 100% because I
made the decision and I almostdidn't go.
The church has always been iffywith me, but I don't know.
I'm glad I decided to go and itwas One of the top, top two,
three best decisions I've evermade.

So got it, so you come back from your mission.
You Started working atClearlink, if I remember right.

Yeah, that's right.

And how long were you there for before you decided
to go back to school?

I wouldn't.
I started up, it's so this is afunny story.
So I I got back and at the endof my mission I was applying to
every single BYU I could getinto.
I was just like full-ondrinking the Kool-Aid, like BYU
is where I want to go.
I'm gonna go home and if find aMormon girl, I'm gonna get
married, start a family right.
Byu Provo rejected me, byuHawaii rejected me and BYU Idaho

(11:54):
let me in.
And I was like, well, I'm notgoing to BYU Idaho.
The other way to get to BYU waswhat was then called LDS, bc,
lds business college, and thenyou do your like two-year degree
there and you can transfer toBYU.
Pretty simple, like prettyeasily.
So signed up for classes and my, I had one day there and it

(12:17):
turned me off so hard.
So Like I think I had goneMaybe a day and a half without
shaving and I've got prettythick facial hair and if I if
like Even on my mission, like Ihad to tell my mission president
like, hey, I have to shaveevery two days, because if I
shave every day, I get like tonsof razor burn right.

(12:37):
So it was like the day before Iwas going to shave like a
teacher called me out forDistracting from the spirit of
learning or something like that,like publicly in front of
everyone.
I was like what the hell isgoing on?
Yeah.
And then they wouldn't take myphoto for the ID.
And I was, yeah, because Ibecause you didn't shave.

Ying Nance (13:00):
I didn't have.
Yeah, I had.

Like as much as Eric has right now.

Maybe, and just in comparison, this is a week.

Yeah.

Like I have zero hair.

Yeah, so I was like, and so I dropped that day.
I was like, not doing that, andI went to slick instead and
yeah, worked at clear link Fulltime while I went to.
I went to classes at night niceand then transferred to the you
cool so the you is where I metcam.

So we were both members of the Sigma Chi
fraternity of pledge brothers,and I won't say the year Cuz, I
don't want to date us, but Imean that's where me and cam
became, I mean really reallygood friends.

We we became close and pledge it.
Oh, totally yeah cuz.

I remember at first I don't know I Sure I've
told you about this before, butI remember seeing you and I was
always like cuz, you don't youget a group of guys together and
there's always kind of thislike almost like chest puffing
and like you seem like whoa,who's this guy?
And like what's going on.
And I cuz, like I.
We were both returnedmissionaries, so we were a
little bit older than everybodyelse.
Yeah, and I was like well, who'sthis guy like I know who, some
of these other guys from before,but almost had this kind of

(14:04):
like standoffishness which I inhindsight realize like that's a
total me thing.
Yeah and once I put that downand like got to know you as you
was like, oh yeah, like thisguy's amazing, like we connected
so so quickly.
We had so much to bond over,especially going through this
experience together.

Yeah.

I mean, which led to us being, I mean, roommates
In Foothill, on roommates and onHarrison.
I mean it's just kind of funnyto see how like that decision
Introduced me to.

We've been friends for 12 years.
Yeah that's wild.

I, I hate that yeah just know that, don't hate
that.
We're been friends for thatlong.
But like when time startscoming into things.
It's creepy.
Yeah like when me and Tannermoved in together I was like
staring, was like wait a minute,we've been friends for 20 years
.
Like I remember going to middleschool because like you went to
you went to you into I went toBonneville and like Middle
school is the first time we likekind of integrated those two

(14:56):
and I was like I Just likeneeded a minute to sit down and
just like yeah, two decades Okayalso, everyone has been
roommates with Tanner at onepoint.

Oh yeah, it's hilarious Good luck.

I was always I mean pre me moving into Tanner,
yeah, like I was like everybodygot that experience and I didn't
push, come to shove.
I get that, you go, I kind ofget it.
He's gone all the time, yeah,but he works down at Escalante
and working there, but it's, itis very funny.

Friend who doesn't know?
Tanner, too, is one of the bestpeople we know.

Oh yeah, really good friend, yeah, my best
friend right now in my life, forsure, yeah he's been there for
us.

He's there for so many people yeah and yeah, he's
a cancer survivor foughtthrough it was positive the
entire time, like God man.
It makes me emotionally beenthinking about it.
But yeah, he's.
He's a good guy we're.
We're lucky to have him with us.

So totally and like that in those college years
is when everything kind of cametogether for us and kind of
created this, this friend group.
They were going throughcolleges again is like these
return missionaries but alsofinding a lot of ourselves,
because I mean mission.
We come home, we think we knowwho we are and then we start to
grow and progress in our 20s andall of a sudden we find out who
we actually are, passions andour hobbies and what and what
drives us and so kind of want togo from your college was cool,

(16:13):
so, and that is when cam startedhis first Suiting business.
True gentleman, I mean, talk tome how that came to be.
Yeah, a lot of it is with yourconnections to Thailand in your
mission.

Yeah.
So two years after I got homefor my mission, a buddy of mine
went to Thailand for For acouple weeks just to go back and
then vacation it.
We stayed with a member thereWhose daughter was like the
middleman or the person who runs, runs fabric and coordinates
orders and everything foranother custom suit shop in Salt

(16:46):
Lake and the owners of that hadbeen missionaries a couple
years before me and they werestarting to do that and I was
like you know, I was makingdecent money at clear Lincoln.
I was just like I made a couplesuits for myself.
I got measurements from somefriends at the time, got some

(17:09):
orders for them and then when wewere at this at our friend's
house there that's where we werestaying in Bangkok she had
piles of fabric books and I waslike, can I take some of those?
I bet you I could like sellsuits on the side.
It was merely just like a hobbyto fund me being able to
purchase more suits, you know so.

I'm all about passions Paying for themselves.

Yeah, so it was.
I mean it was, I mean it wassuper early, like I had just, is
it?
Yeah, Rushed Sigma Chi when Iwas like taking this seriously.
I got back from Thailand a fewmonths later I rushed and people
asked me what I do and I juststarted telling them I own a
suit business.
I hadn't registered anything.

(17:53):
I'd sold like four suits ever,you know.
So I was like pitching this tothe Bowmans and everyone just
like trying to be a salesman.
And after Rush, like prior tolike after getting into
something, you have like fourmoles.
You know, people just started,like you know, Jeremy Peterson,
PD, like all these guys, likehey.

I remember everybody like it would be
months before and some peoplelike, hey, cam, I need a suit,
and they'd be like this.
And then someone would be like,oh, I just got a suit from Cam.
Be like Well, what do you mean?
you got a suit from Cam, I wantto get a suit from Cam and all
of a sudden you just look aroundlike these four moles and you
just see everybody in thesecustoms.
It was kind of cool, Like inhindsight I didn't appreciate it
before it was but everybody'sin these like custom fit, yeah,

(18:35):
and I think it's really nicesuits compared to like you go to
other ones and just see peoplein there, I mean J crew, H&M,
Banana Republic suits and you'relike there's a very stark
difference.
I do remember that.

Yeah, so the, and during that time, like, I
completely use that as like,okay, I'm not great at this yet,
so my, my upcharge was like 50bucks.
Like I was not like makingmoney on this, but it was like
funding it, and then, if I hadalterations, I just may try,
didn't go into the red with it,um, and then eventually what

(19:07):
would happen is like the guyswould refer their parents, you
know, um, so I'd, I'd make asuit for someone's dad or
someone else's wedding, and thenit just started to to grow a
little bit.
So a lot of issues.
I mean, again, custom suitingis not easy, like body logistics
, yeah, but, um, because ofSigma Chi and just like everyone

(19:31):
was just, yeah, cool, 300 bucks, let's do it.

So especially compared to like anything else
they would get anywhere else.
Yeah, like, why wouldn't you?
Yeah?

So and then I, uh , I partnered up with a another
member of Sigma Chi and and westarted a, started a brand that
um had some differences of.
We didn't work very welltogether, so we decided to
separate Um and I he just likebought my ownership of the
company and I was like you knowwhat, maybe I'm done with
suiting.
I was just going to focus on,focus on my degree for a bit,

(20:04):
and that was like mainly my timein Sigma Chi.
Like I sold suits on the side alittle bit, but it might.
I was focusing on like having agood time.

Oh, totally, and like which if anybody ever asked
me, which they probably wouldnever is like what should I do
in college?
Like, be present, make friends,enjoy, yeah, because I mean,
even though I thinking today of,like, the people who took
college super seriously are invery little diff, very
difference, in place of wherethe other people who just
enjoyed it and the people whothought what they were studying
was so serious or usually doingsomething completely different,

(20:35):
yeah, and so enjoy the journey.
Don't, don't take anything.
I mean, that's kind of life ingeneral.
Don't take anything tooseriously.
Yeah, you're going to end updead regardless, for sure.
Yeah, so, cool.
So you're going to school,you're doing all this, and then
so I want to like.
So this is when yin starts tocome more into the picture.
So not yet, Right, yeah, okay,so we're going to get there.
So let's talk about the firsttime you go back to Thailand for

(20:57):
an extended period of time.
All right, so you're going togo back to Thailand for the monk
, and I don't know the detailsof it, I don't want you to
explain it better.
So you get this opportunity.
Walk us through how you gotthis and how you ended up back
in Thailand.

Okay, so this is a little bit of a preface before
I rush sick, because I rushedsick pretty late, like 23, 24,
23 years old, right, which is,in college terms, a late time to
rush.

Some do it older, but it's usually like 18 to 20
years old, but it also isn'tlike completely weird in Utah
because it's just kind of partof the dynamic.
Exactly If you go anywhere elseto be like what the hell are
you doing?
Yeah, fine, yeah.

So what happened is I got home from my mission
and all of my like really closefriends from high school.
They got married quick.
So I was without friends and Iwas just hanging out with people
at Clearlink and I never waslike close to anyone but through
someone that I served mymission with was really good
friends with someone in SigmaChi and introduced me to them.

(21:53):
It was like Dag, brandon Bean,a lot of these guys and like,
hey, you should rush, hey, youshould rush.
I'm like I don't know.
It sounds like something I wantto do, but I'm old, you know.
And then on the day of rush, Iwasn't going and my phone just
started blowing up like wherethe hell are you Get your ass
here?
And I was like, okay, so I'llgo check it out.

(22:15):
And I went up and I, like theguys I met because during rush
you meet everyone in the house Iremember meeting Tanner Bowman
and just be like, hey, there's alot of good guys here, totally
so decided to rush.
Now, prior to my return toThailand, I found myself in a
similar situation.
I was wrapping up my junioryear.
Garrett was engaged, you werewith Jasmine.

(22:40):
I think Parker was datingsomeone, or he was just not
present.
In our apartment.
Tanner was like all of myfriends were in relationships,
engaged or married, and I foundmyself like not hanging out with
anyone because I was single andI was like what the?
So I just finished my lastfinal.
I get back to the place onHarrison Street and I opened up

(23:04):
my laptop, scrolling throughFacebook, and a guy served my
mission with had a post fromlike two weeks before and he's
like hey, I work for thiscompany that does tech work for
this, this company that teachesEnglish through like video calls
worldwide, big, mostly in China, and they're looking to expand
to Thailand and they have like aThai partner and, in order to

(23:28):
get in the good graces of theRoyal family, to get accepted as
a foreign business into thecountry, they're looking for a
like an English tutor who'swilling to go and live in
Thailand.
And I was like, hey, man,what's this about?
That sounds kind of interesting.
And he gave me a call.
He's like hey, they're prettydeep into the interview process,

(23:49):
just letting you know, but I'llput your name in and maybe
you'll, maybe you'll get a phonecall.
So I got a phone call, I thinkthe next day, and they just, and
that turned another interview,another interview, another
interview.
And then I got on the callthing with the VP of the company
and he's like we want to sendyou, can you leave in two weeks?
You know, I've got a carpayment, I've got, you know, the

(24:13):
rent, all that stuff, and I waslike yes, absolutely.
I'll figure it out.
So I figured out someone to payfor half.
So my sister, I was like I willlike you just pay for half of
the car payment and I'll let youdrive it, just like absolutely.
So she did that, and then I wasable to find someone to take
over the remainder of my leaseand I just moved to Thailand.

(24:34):
So, turns out, the guy that Iwas teaching English to is a
really famous monk in Thailand.
How would you compare his fameto someone here Like I feel like
everyone in Thailand knows whohe is.

Ying Nance (24:49):
Like and while you're thinking about that.

Yeah, like the.

Ying Nance (24:51):
Dalai Lama of Thailand, yeah, yeah.

Well, because I remember it was after you got
back and we went to get Thaifood at that place on eight
south, like right by LibertyPark.
Yeah, and you I mean, as wealways happen to anywhere Thai
related like you start talkingto them and I could tell that
you were starting to talk aboutwhen you were back in Thailand
and the monk and like I sawthere like just kind of demeanor
change and one of them ran backand came back with a picture of

(25:14):
him and was like you mean, youwere teaching English to this
monk and they're like, yeah,they're like all like, and
people just kept coming forward.
I was like, yeah, so the padThai coming, or is it not?

Yeah, I think it was that Chinon.

Ying Nance (25:27):
Yeah, he's, yeah, he's very famous yeah.

And I get there and he's extremely busy.
So he wants to learn English,but, like, the time that I have
to like teach him English waslike so small, so what he?
When I met with him, he's like,look, I don't have a lot of
time.
What I want you to do is I wantyou to teach my like my temple
grounds staff had it speakEnglish, or at least help them

(25:52):
to be better at it, because weget a lot of foreign visitors.
So he, he's got this beautifultemple grounds called right,
chintawon, in Chiangrai it'slike the most northern province
of the country.
It's absolutely beautiful.
Chintawon, tainanis TerrainJungle.
It's nice and cool, except inApril, but it's like super hot

(26:12):
there in April but and it'sabsolutely beautiful there.
Massive temple grounds got.
He has a, he owns farmlandsurrounded that he brings like
people, like more rural peoplein the area that need work.
He come and teaches them how tofarm for free so they can go
get jobs at farms like in theprovince.

(26:32):
Oh, cool, right, he does a lotof stuff like that.
He, he a lot of the money thatgets donated to him, he, he
gives back through you knowhundreds of thousands of dollars
in scholarships, like just areally good, influential person
Right.

So, and you just happened to like Facebook posts
like, oh, I'm going to go teachEnglish, but I don't know who
it's to or why, yeah, and thenall of a sudden you're like and
two weeks later.

So at this point I'm like, okay, I guess I'm not
going to teach him, I'm going toteach the staff.
Right, and for the first likeweek or two, like I never really
talked to him.
I was just like meeting hisstaff, getting close with them.
And one day I was out with theChow Na the like the farmers,
and I was helping and I was likewhat are you guys doing?
They're like I'm plantingstrawberries.

(27:20):
I'm like can I help?
I had nothing to do, right.
So he, in his like van thatthat transports him from the
airport back and forth, he sawme in the field like Planting
strawberries.
Planting, like harvesting andlike working in the field.
He's like, what is that whiteguy doing in the field?

And so we called him, Especially if you're like
what are you?
64?
62.
Yeah, so the 62 guy in Thailandworking in a field.
I'm pretty sure you stuck out.

I had like the Asian raiden hat on and
everything Like.

I was Asian raiden .

Yeah.
So he calls for me into, likethe there's this building that's
a mute, that's an art museumfor local artists that he likes
to promote, right.
So I go in there and I and Italked to him and he's like what
are you doing out there?
And I just like, well, you toldme to teach your staff English.
Like I thought I there was noone out, there was no one here.

(28:14):
And he's like, so you just likewent out, like it's like do all
white people do this?
And I was like I don't know,like that's just what I'm doing.
Then he looks at me for like 10seconds without saying a word
and goes do you want to go toIndia?
I was like he's just like byIndia.
My like, what, what do you mean?
Go to India?
He's like do you want to go to?
He's like he's like me, somemonks and a bunch of people are

(28:37):
going on this like pilgrimage toall of the ancient sites where
the Buddha taught.
Do you want to go?

And I was like, no , I'm a little busy teaching
English to some of the people inthe farm.
Well, I was like.

I don't have any money, Like literally like I had
no money, Like the company thatsent me there was paying me a
thousand bucks a month and thatwas going to my car payment, and
like just saving up so I couldgo to school.
When I got back again for thenext semester.
So he is like, no, no, no,don't worry about it, We'll pay

(29:12):
for it.
Do you want to go?
I'm not asking you, can you go?
I'm like do you want to?
And I was like, yes, I want togo to India.
And he's like okay, give meyour passport.
And I like go get my passport.
He hands it to his like monkassistant and he's like he'll
take care of it.
He'll go to the embassy.
You might need to fly toBangkok tomorrow.
We'll pay for your ticket.

(29:32):
I was like what is happening?
So then two weeks later I'm inIndia and I spent a ton of time
with him just like chatting withhim, teaching him English, and
then we started to get reallyclose, Cool, Every morning with
him we'd practice English, andthen he started teaching me.
So here I'm just going tounload with content you can

(29:54):
choose what to keep.
So he one day I'm teaching himEnglish and he's or like we're
practicing English, like talkingabout breakfast terms or
something like that, or he'dcome with.
He was he could get by inEnglish for sure, if you speak
slow, like he can get by.
He just wanted to like knowbetter grammar nuances.
Anyway, we are, we're justgoing through our normal morning

(30:20):
routine before the visitorsstart to arrive at his, at his
temple, and he's just staring atme.
I'm asking him questions.
He's not responding.
He's just like looking likedeep into my eyes, right, and I
was like what's up Me, like likedid I say something wrong?
Or whatever he goes yeah.

(30:41):
He goes.
He's like room I want.

Ying Nance (30:43):
Come around my, my me qualms so prolly which is,
which means like do you know whyyou're unhappy?

Do you know why you're not happy right now?
And I was like what?
Like I'm hungry, seriously,because you can't eat until the
monks are finished eating.
But anyway, a lot of cool rulesthat you figure out, and like
new vocabulary and tie met a lot.
I'll get that in a sec.
So he he, I was like no, why amI like?

(31:12):
Why am I not happy?
You know, I wouldn't considermyself unhappy at the time, but
was I bursting with joy at thetime?

No, and, of course , if there's this famous monk in
front of you, he's like do youknow why are you not happy?

The last thing you're gonna be is like no, go
away, Don't have, don't have,like you know, yeah for sure.
So he's like.
He's like people who aredepressed are living in the past
too much.
Yes, and I was like, okay, hegoes, you're not depressed, but
let me tell you about it.
I was like, okay, I don't feeldepressed and he goes.
People who are depressed arespending all of their time with

(31:46):
their thoughts in the past.
If it's focusing on somethingnegative, they're reliving the
worst parts of their life overand over again, or they're
focusing on better times thatare better than now.
And how could the best times ofyour life in the past compete
with the mundane of today?
He's like that's not you.
You don't struggle with thepast.
He's like you're unhappybecause you think about the

(32:09):
future too much, which?
causes anxiety, yeah, exactly so, and I was like all right, I'm
getting chills saying it.
He's like, okay, I'm like allright, you're too worried about
things, that 90% of them won'thappen and the 10% that will
happen, you can't prevent.
Now I'm getting chills, yeah,and I'm like, all right, this

(32:32):
makes sense to me and he knowswhat you need to do is just
learn how to be in the present.
Yes, and the best way to dothat is what I teach is a way of
meditation, and I want you toknow for 59, 99 a month.

Yeah, I'm just.

And he, yeah.
And he he's like do you want tolearn?
I Like, sure I'll learn, let'sgo.
And so he taught me how tomeditate and at first it was
tough but it became part of mymorning routine.
I'd wake up, I'd run like threemiles around the perimeter of
the temple grounds at shower.

(33:10):
I'd go teach him and then I'dmeditate and I started 15
minutes but I was getting to twohours in the morning, just
straight.
No thoughts.

I love that I was so zened out.

My hair was long, I had a man bun I was wearing
like I Don't know I was so zenright it was.
It was really cool.
But it taught me how to and Ithink it's stuck with me because
I I've never struggled with.
Luckily, I've never had anyissues with depression, but,
like when I'm feeling anxious, Iknow how to ground myself again

(33:43):
, even though I don't meditate.
Those are great tools to have,like.
Yeah.

Whatever happens in life, there's always gonna be
periods of anxiety, or evenlike I mean about the depression
thing, about the past and likebeing able to have those tools
is there and like so when youwere saying I'm gonna interject
really quick.
So I remember when I was in my20s, mid 20s, and I was going to
therapy, for I mean like I meanI was in and out of therapy and
big fan of it.
But I remember I heard mytherapist say the same thing,

(34:07):
because they're like I can tellbecause, like in my family
history, we have a lot ofanxiety and depression and they
said the same thing.
They're like, listen, like youget depressed when you think so
much about the past and youfixate on it, mm-hmm, and your
anxiety is thinking about thefuture and the best way to
Battle that is to be as presentas you can in the moment.
Yeah, and there's nothing thatforces you to be present than

(34:29):
meditation, because it literallyis Sitting still in the moment,
focusing on breathing, focusingon calming your brain, because
your brain's usually Processingall the anxiety and all those
thoughts and bringing you backto that.
So I love that there's Becauseobviously, like with mental
health and getting to a place ofpeace.
There's a lot of schools ofthought you can have, I mean

(34:49):
even like with you in Asianculture and literally sitting
Across from a Buddhist monk, buta lot of the principles remain
the same, yeah, and so I lovethat you're able to find that
and find that piece, becauseeven like knowing you before
then, I mean I wouldn't look atyou, be like Cam, your press,
cam, your like, have highanxiety, but I wouldn't.
I knew that you could be abetter person and that there

(35:11):
were inner battles and a lot ofjust, I mean Storms in your head
, and so I love that thatexperience not only kind of set
the foundation for the rest ofyour life, but also gave you so
much peace to help tackle thatwas to come.

Yeah, and I think a lot of it was just, I've
always had lofty goals and and Istill do it.
Just I can't help but Point tothe future.
But what I found is like I liketo write down my goals of what
I want in the future and then Ithink about what do I have to do
now?
And then that kind of likegrounds me back to today.
Yeah, and whether or not ithappens, I'm okay with there's a

(35:45):
, there's an element ofacceptance, because it's like
you can't control a lot of it.
And Another part of this is itdoesn't have to be Buddhist
meditation, it could be prayer,it can be Islam.
I mean, it can, like you can.
There are techniques to getyourself in the present in a lot
of different ways.
I just found that what Ilearned with him was really

(36:07):
effective for me, reallyeffective.
So he, I definitely gained waymore from that little adventure
than Then then he did, becausehe's just so busy, like his
English got better.
But yeah, he, he's just areally generous, generous person
.
So so he started teachingmeditation.

(36:29):
We kept getting closer andcloser and just talking about
things.
He talked about his issues withBuddhism in Thailand and how he
wanted to change it and affectthe world.
What his goals were like a lotof really cool things and being
with him so often like people inThailand started to take notice
.
Like that, the rumors about usin Thailand are hilarious.

Ying Nance (36:50):
Oh yeah.

Yeah, you want to tell them about that.
Yeah, it's so.
Because there is a group ofpeople in Thailand do that do
not like this monk?

Ying Nance (36:57):
Yeah, like just like anyone.

Like there's a.
There's a.
There's a subset of any groupthat doesn't like any person.
True?

Ying Nance (37:04):
So for some reason he thinks that the monk is gay,
like they think that the monk isgay, and so there would be like
pictures of Cameron and themonk and it was like a weird
angle but it looks like the monkis touching Cameron's knee and
so they were like making funthat like Cameron's like you

(37:24):
know, the gay couple with themonk.

There's a legit rumor that people think that.

TMZ, thailand's spreading rumors.

Yeah, exactly, so that was always fun.
But anyway started to takenotice.
I started meeting with somereally cool.

Important people in some of those, some like what
are some of those people, wouldyou say?

Just like people high up.
So Thailand right now is run bythe military, so I met I never
met the prime minister, but Imet like his like right hands
you know what I mean like likehis second hands, the head of
the military police, and like alot of celebrities.
Like a couple celebrities Thaicelebrities got married at right
into one and they have foreignFans and so I would translate

(38:09):
for like the person running thewedding Cool, you know so little
things like that.
There's also big events thathappen at his, at his temple
grounds, and TV their TVstations would come.
So this is going somewhere.
This is kind of like how I metyin and then how I kept going
back to Thailand after the fact,after this.

Because this is because this bout in Thailand
isn't when you met yin, it's itis.

It is okay.
So this is where you met thefirst.

Okay, yeah, I could remember if it was this or
the next one.
But yeah, keep going.

So TV would come.
So I I've started meetingpeople high up in like the big
television stations.
Just because I was with him,they're like who is this guy?
And then they come up and likewho are you?
Like Cameron, this isinteresting, you know a town?
And yeah, then what I?

(38:58):
And every once in a while, likethe monk, would Take a few days
off and he like, go down toBangkok, go see your friends in
Bangkok, right, and so I'd meetup with people that I had met.
It was really fun, so one ofthe so, and then also he started
taking me to differentcountries with him because he
has followers kind of all overthe world.
So, and he'll set up events andthen his followers will come

(39:21):
see him in the places where heneed.
And it was really beneficialfor him that I was there because
I would, you know, put onheadphones and have a mic and
everyone who didn't speak Thaiput on headphones.
I translate.

So what were some of these places you went to, or
some of the highlights?

So I went to Japan.
That was my favorite.
I haven't been back since, butwe will go soon.

I'll tag along for that one.

It's the best dude unreal, like surreal, like
just so many of wallpapers on mycomputer.

You're just slowly checking off your like high
school wallpaper.

It's seriously, I just remember in Kyoto we
walked up and I turned thecorner and I saw the gold
pavilion, which is thisbeautiful gold building next to
a like a little pond duringcherry blossom season.
Like I was just like, how am Ihere?
Yeah, like, pinch me, like I'mnot paying for any of it even

(40:17):
better, you know.
I was just like this is.
It was why it was crazy.
It was so surreal.
Yeah, so, and I'm Myanmar, laos.
So I got into me.
I don't know if I can, anyway, Igot into Myanmar without a
passport, so it's the onlycountry I've been to that I
don't have proof of it, fbi,we've got him.
Yeah.
So I got to, we got to theborder and I was like I forgot

(40:41):
my passport and the monks, likedoesn't matter, and he wouldn't
talk to, like if you wouldn'ttalk to people with a border and
just let me through.
So, myanmar, laos, cambodia,japan.
And then, near the end of mystay, he invited me to go to
Europe for three months with himand I didn't go and I'll get to

(41:01):
that in just a sec.
But when I got back from Japan,there was a big event at the
temple grounds where they wereordaining a bunch of novice
monks, like 300 or somethinglike that.
Tv was there, celebrities werethere, big event.
So ying, my beautiful wife.
Her family is very famous inThailand, she's the youngest of

(41:25):
five and her four older brothersare pop stars and two of them
are movie stars.

So I don't know why my brain, just like when you
say that, just goes to justlike BTS, seize them.

I guess I've like seen pictures of her brother,
so it kind of is oh yeah, yep,Totally yeah, that's it.
You'd like seriously like golfand Mike in their times in their
time and they're doing areunion tour in December, which
is why we're going back.
But Give me a t-shirt, so we orwas I so?

Ying Nance (41:59):
my mom forced me to this event.
I Usually don't like to go upnorth.
She's not a religious person.
I mean, I am Buddhist.

So let's pause here for a second.
So so I love that now you get acoming, because you're an
amazing person and I lovehearing from camp, but I love
hearing from both of you too.
So give us a picture of likewhat your life is like at this
point.
Like, what are you doing?
We're spending your time.

Ying Nance (42:20):
So I just barely graduated school, and it was in
2015.

I think college or high school.

Ying Nance (42:28):
Sorry, it was college.

Okay, what did you study there?
Where was?

Ying Nance (42:32):
I was in arts faculty and it's like language
and culture, because that's theonly one that I can get in.

At jula though, yeah, but it's like a like.

Ying Nance (42:43):
It's a really good like school.
And then I was kind of workingwith my dad a little and he owns
like a leather um company,handbags and stuff like that,
but it wasn't serious becausevery successful it wasn't
anything serious, just becauseyou know I'm the daughter of the
owner, so it's like you can goanywhere you want.

(43:07):
But yeah, back then I wasn'tdoing anything much, just being
like A young girl Kind of.

And then just having your little hot girl
summer moment.

Ying Nance (43:20):
Yeah, the boyfriend I don't have a boyfriend, but it
was just something.
I was someone, I was involvedwith gotcha, and so my mom Loves
forcing me to Buddhist events,especially with this event which
is like 200 novice monk whichwill give you such good karma

(43:40):
like you have to go, have to go,yeah, so, and you have to meet
this monk.
He's so famous, it's so hard tomeet him, we have to go.
So I was like, okay, I'm justgonna go.
So I went there.
And then, once we got there, wetalked to the monk and then he
called Cameron in to come andtake care of us and like showed

(44:00):
us around.
I met him and I was like oh,cute boy.

Like six.

She did not treat me like this she was so mean Of
course, games are the same gamesin any language and country.

I'm eating breakfast with the staff In the
back of this building that he'sUm rub cag.
What is that?

Ying Nance (44:21):
in english Um, just like you know, for guests.

Yeah, it's like.
So He'll sit in a room andpeople will come in one by one
where the chance to meet him.
Yeah, he was just doing that,and so her and her mom came and
then he's like hey, go getCameron, why, why those two?

Why, cameron?
He knows what he's doing.

Ying Nance (44:36):
He's like listen, it's just that because, like the
third, like the second time wemet, he said something really
like Weird.

Yeah, we'll get to that.
Yeah, we'll get to that.
Yeah, yeah, yeah.

Ying Nance (44:47):
So Cameron got there and he started speaking Thai
and I was like, oh, you speakThai.
And then Cameron was like, oh,your english is really good.
And so I looked at him with aside eye, kind of rolled my eyes
, and I was like, yeah, and inmy head I thought you think Thai

(45:09):
people can't speak English.

That's like I've met so many Thai people and they
cannot speak English like youcan Do.

Ying Nance (45:16):
You think he write buffles.

He's like.

You're absolutely right.
Your english is amazing.
I've experienced all of this,yeah.

Yeah, so yeah so you want to tell them how you
got your accent.

Ying Nance (45:26):
Well, I go to um American school and.
And what?

what show oh?

Ying Nance (45:33):
and I watch gossip girls.

Oh, I Act.
Yeah, and she would copy Blair.

I was gonna ask if you're a Blair fan.
Yeah, I mean what I.
Okay, so I speak anotherlanguage and like the way I
speak Spanish is very different.
The way I speak English andalmost like my personality Is
different between yourpersonality changes yeah and
it's always interesting becauseif I could go back, I would
almost be like all right now,who am I gonna emulate?
Because I speak very MexicanSpanish but like to be able to
be like learning English, beinglike mmm British, no American,

(45:58):
no, this, oh, blair, blair, yeahlet's do this because it's like
lively right.

Ying Nance (46:03):
I am Blair, like no it's not like that, yeah.

So, um, so, you meet there.
She rolls her eyes at me andI'm like oh, attitude.
Doesn't scare him and so I I'mwalking around Her and her mom,
showing her the temple grounds,explaining things, and they do
not.
Anything is your mom like?
No, no.
I am a deck.
What?

(46:27):
I'm not like you're a dick,what deck what.
I'm not a temple boy.
I am not an eligible bachelorfor her daughter.

Ying Nance (46:34):
Got it yeah, and also like he's white, so he's
not an eligible Son-in-lawmultiple boxes not checked for
what would be consideredeligible not, not Chinese
background, not from anextremely wealthy family Like
just not, just, not what

she's just enjoying the tour with the
temple boy of this famous monk,yeah and also like he's not
Buddhist.

Ying Nance (47:01):
My mom was like why are you not converted yet?

Yeah, that was a common question.
So I never like have consideredmyself Buddhist.
Um, we don't need to get intowhy.
But um, she's just like whatare you?
I was like I don't know.
I think I'm like moreculturally Christian, I've got a
lot of Christian values, andshe goes what, what do
Christians believe?
And I kind of explained it.

Ying Nance (47:21):
And she's just like you can't be forgiven of sin you
know, she was just like yeah,my mom is my mom.

Yeah, she's very straightforward.
I'm like okay, that's fine.
Like.
I'm not like.

I'm not trying to convert you right now Just
answering your questions.

Yeah, she, she did not give me the time of day
and the event starts and there'sa ton of people there and it's
like.
A Religious place is not areally good place to flirt,
especially when you're the likeGuy who's right next and like
doing the events with the personwho runs the place.

What's called the.

Decois, yeah the deck, what the deck what?

Ying Nance (47:58):
yeah Kid temple it was kind of hard cuz like, yeah,
it was under the temple andlike my mom's there and
everything, my brother's thereand my grandma's there, and I'm
just like, okay, how do I, howdo I do this?

Yeah so the next day it's like mission impossible
of flirting religious placefamilies all there.

Ying Nance (48:16):
Generational always like right next to me like
there's no way.
And there's this one time wewere just sitting in the back of
like a golf cart, just the twoof us, and my mom was doing
something, and so we were justlike chatting and to the point
where I was like so do you havea Facebook?

not on.
It wasn't on the golf cart,though.
It was in the forest with allthe rubber trees and Everyone
was piling out.
The event was over and I wasjust sitting on this like
turquoise chair, and I wassitting there too and then you
come over it's like so do youhave a Facebook or something?

Ying Nance (48:49):
No, we were chatting , oh we were.
We were like kind of, okay,have you been to Bangkok?
Blah blah.
And then I was like well, ifyou come to Bangkok you should
hit me up.

Yeah, you have a Facebook?

Ying Nance (49:00):
Yes.

Yeah, the power move, I could make a move and I
was.
I'm sure if cam you're in aposition where you can't.

Oh, I made plenty of moves after that we're well,
I mean like in that situationyou probably weren't in a place
where you're like, hey, likewhat's your, what's that for?

like, you know, like something that and you most
places would be.
But because of all of theseother dynamics, You're like yeah
, probably not gonna work, soI'm yeah, I wasn't at Sigma Chi.

Yes, I couldn't just like make a move, you know.

Ying Nance (49:26):
So me is that I grew up super shy and the time that
I met him was the time that Iwas trying to change myself.
It's the time that I feel likeI need to start being the first
one to make moves, to like makethings happen.
So I made a move by asking forhis Facebook.
Maybe we could meet up inBangkok, I don't know very

(49:46):
innocent too.

Yeah, like you could meet up and do it.

I like it's nothing you know so I went on to
her Facebook and started likingall of her pictures of her in a
bikini.
So there was.
So there was no mistake.
So there was no mistake that Iwas interested right.

I love that so much.

So why don't you tell them what you would do?
So when I was there, I did haveopportunity to.
I mean, a flight round tripfrom Changrai to Bangkok at the
time was like 60 30 bucks, ifyou like.
Bought it four days in advance,60 bucks day of.
Yeah right, it was cheap.

Ying Nance (50:18):
So after that time we met, I went up again to the
temple why, in July To like yeah, well, there was a chance
because my brother was going upthere to for like a small event,
and so I was like you know what, I'll go with you.

I'll go with you, brother.
There's no other ulteriormotive.

Yeah and I had told the staff, the head of the
staff.
Yeah, if she comes really goodfriend, like anytime she she
shows up, let me know.
And she showed up.

Ying Nance (50:48):
Yeah, yeah, that's where the weird thing the monk
said it was because we weresitting right next to him and he
said you two should get married.

No, he said.
He said you two are, so he's.
He's sitting there and you guyswere donating his lunch or
something.

Ying Nance (51:04):
Yeah, we were donating lunch and we also
donate like a big Bell for the.
That's right.

Yeah, that's right, it's still there, yeah,
it's still there.
I'm thinking like Liberty Bell,like like bell, bell, yeah, but
it's like a Buddhist bell, okayright, and it's beautiful,
absolutely beautiful.
So.
And then Also, mike was mybrother was asking, was asking
to be a monk with him, oraccepting an invitation, or
something like that, somethingalong that line.

(51:32):
Yeah, so I'm, I'm at again, Iam with this monk like almost 24
, like all day, right.
So I'm just like helping withthis event and I'm just sitting
there, and then he's giving atalk to her family and then all
of a sudden just says that Yingand I are gonna get married in
the future and we like look ateach other like, which is like.

This is what like the second time.
I've met and like obviously canby now, is obviously interested
, ying is interested.
But to have someone be like,you're gonna get married and her
mom was like my mom wasn'tthere.
No, no, what did Mike say?
Did he hear this?

Ying Nance (52:08):
He didn't hear this, he didn't care.

Yeah, he's got other things going on.
Yeah, he's super busy.
So, and then another cool thingwe in in one of the what's a
salah what is that?
Thomas, a pop?
What was that?
It's like a building on thegrounds, where I don't everyone
was eating lunch.
And who took the photo?

Ying Nance (52:28):
Of my brother's friend, who was there as well,
took a photo of us like sittingand just like.

Like we're sitting next to each other and
we're chatting and I have anervous habit.
When I'm nervous I pick mycalluses on my same from working
out and in this photo, like I'mjust picking away.

Ying Nance (52:48):
Taking away.
Yeah, but like the eye contactthat we have in the photo is
just like it's something.
Yeah, for sure so, so any.

Every time I go to Bangkok I hit her up and she
would either ignore me, not come, or, in the rare time when she
would have come hang out with me, she would bring a friend or
two.

Ying Nance (53:08):
I would.
I'd never not come, but I wouldalways bring a friend with me.

Why was that?

Ying Nance (53:15):
It's easier to get out there and also it's like,
why, like, why would you want togo and like, have something
more when he's not here?
He's in America?
Yeah like there's.

Totally, I just wanted to hook up yeah there's
no chance.

Ying Nance (53:35):
And yeah, and also one more thing is that, because
of how close he is with the monkand how like my brothers are
famous, I just don't want to beLike the talk.

You didn't want to end up because the next thing
on TMZ Thailand, I'm not.
Tmz, but like the gay monk isnow interested in Mike and golf
sister.

Ying Nance (53:57):
Yeah, like we don't know if he's gonna talk or
anything.
So it's like it's better tojust you know date someone who
Doesn't know anyone.
Yeah.

Yeah, so nothing really like we.
We were snapchat friendssnapchat, I don't know if that's
still big, but yeah, we'd sendsnapchats to each other and
Nothing ever came of it.
She was just a girl.
I knew that I thought was cute,but nothing happened To get to
why I left the monk.
So he invited, like I couldhave stayed there at the temple

(54:30):
grounds for as long as I wanted,like I could have just stayed
there the rest of my life andlike worked with him.
But I got to a point where Ijust started to feel like I
Needed to do something with mylife.
Mm-hmm, like the part of mylife were school partying,

(54:51):
adventure.
I checked off so many boxesthat I was like I feel like it's
time for me to get to work.
I want to, I want to accomplishsomething now, and I felt like
if I went to, Europe.
Europe for three months, withthis month all expenses paid.

(55:12):
Seeing you know England, france, spain, like and he stays it,
like his followers Donate enoughto make sure he's stays in very
comfortable places, got him say, and I felt like like Grang Chi
, like I Felt like if I acceptedthat I was signing up long term

(55:34):
, yeah right, and and I Was like, well, I could stay here for
another three months, but afterEurope I come back, I'm gonna
want to go home and I can't justgo to Europe and then peace.

Yeah, like I can't do either now or you're in for
the long I'm in now and I'm herefor a few years at least.

It's what I was thinking.
So I was like I went up and Iwas like thank you so much for
your offer and I told him how Ifelt, but I want to go home and
accomplish something.
And he gave me his blessing.
He's like absolutely, youalways have a home here, which
is something he says every timewe go see him.
He's like right, you know, onis your home, so anytime you
need to like ground yourself andcome home, it's always here.

(56:14):
So word got out that I wasleaving and I Don't have a
manager or anything, or a cellphone or anything like that.
I may have my cell phone, Idon't have a tie number,
anything.
So some ex an executive at a TVstation in Bangkok heard I was

(56:34):
leaving and contacted member ofthe staff, one of the leaders of
the staff at the temple, andAsked her to ask me if I could
meet with them in Bangkok beforeI leave.
And I was like what for?
She's like I have no idea.
Okay, so I go meet with themand they come out and with an
English speaker and I startspeaking Thai and the executives

(56:56):
like whoa, your tie is reallygood.
Okay, cool, well, we have aTreatment like pre-script, but
as an idea for a show, and it'sabout a white guy from New York
who becomes a monk.
And Would you be interested inplaying that role?

(57:17):
I was like I've never actedbefore, I've never had any
aspirations for acting before.
Sure, like let's do it, yeah,and they're like, okay, well,
it's still in the early stages,it may not happen, but if it
moves forward and if you knowevery like, if we get funded and
like there's an interest forthe premise, yeah, we'll, we'll

(57:39):
let you know.
So I moved back to, I movedback to Utah and and this is,
and then this, and I moved backwith my mom and Then Tanner got
cancer, so he moved in with, hemoved back home, and then I

(57:59):
moved in with Scott Mm-hmm, andwhile I was living with Scott, I
got contacted To do the TV show.
Like we're gonna start, like inin a few months, like you in,
and so we Negotiated terms and Iwent and started a TV show and
while I was there before, Ishaved my head.
So first they flew me out to NewYork to film all the, all the

(58:21):
scenes of my character there andthat was my first time in New
York and I was like I'll be backhere, I love this city, so that
that like planted the New Yorkseat in my head, and so then the
TV station flew me out.

they room and board and Is this in Bangkok or
was in Bangkok?

Yeah, so we filmed some of it at the temple
grounds that I stayed with,because once what?
One thing that they did is tohelp get funding, is the monk
that I taught actually helpedwith the story idea?
Hmm, yeah.
So once I started to get pickedup, he got involved and a lot
of it was filmed there, but mostof it was in Bangkok or just

(59:04):
outside of Bangkok.
So my schedule was on, let'ssee.
So Monday morning They'd pick,I'd have like a team pick me up
at around 4 30 am, yeah, andthen we drive out to where we
were filming that day and wewould get there Coffee,

(59:26):
breakfast, everything, do arun-through script reading, all
that stuff, make sure everyonewas on the same page and Then
we'd start filming until about 7, 8 pm At night.
Well, that's a long day, longday, and that would be Monday,
tuesday, wednesday, thursdayfour days in a row of this.
So it was like 60 hours andfour days, yeah 4, 30 to 8 30

(59:47):
every day.
Yeah, that's really brutal.
So not easy work, believe it ornot?
So, and then on Friday eveningI would get the scripts of the
scenes that we would be shootingfor Monday, tuesday, wednesday,
thursday, the next week.
So, and the scripts were all inThai, no English.
My Thai started to get reallygood.

Erik Nilsson (01:00:09):
It's gonna say because, like, if anybody's ever
learned a language like,especially like from my
perspective of mission, like you, you learn that vocabulary
really well, like I could talkreligion with anybody very
fluently.
But then it's like oh hey, youwant to talk about manufacturing
.
Take me a sec.

Cameron Nance (01:00:26):
You have to ask a lot of words, but then A lot of
vocabulary you have to learn.

So it's like now you have like your mission
vocabulary, you have your monkvocabulary and kind of all that
which expanded a ton, and nowit's like pop culture vocabulary
.

So I'm sure it's just at this point I mean, as
good as native almost, and themonk that I played Steve like
monk, speaking a higher language, so there was a ton of
vocabulary I had to learn.
So I would spend Friday evening,all day Saturday and a little
bit of Sunday.
It was like my okay, I've doneenough, but I would just like

(01:00:59):
memorize my lines and practicelike all day, cause I did not
want to show up on set and slowthings down, right, so I did
that and then on like when Iwould have downtime or whatnot,
I would hit up Ying, and anytimeshe'd come see me for lunch or
coffee or something, she'd bringa friend.
And I'm just like man always afriend yeah, she'd always bring

(01:01:22):
a friend.
So did the TV show.
And after the TV show, workgets crazy, because then you're
doing a ton of interviews andmorning TV shows like talk shows
and stuff and like going around, and then that was finished and
then the show aired and I movedback to the US again.

And the thing I like.
So it was always interestingtoo, cause, like back in Utah, I
mean, we knew this was allhappening and he'd send us
pictures and we'd like the showwould go live and we'd go over
to Scott's apartment and we'dwatch it and, like none of us,
speak Thai, so we're just kindof like trying to piece together
the plot based on what we'reseeing and keep in mind like.
so up until this point, cam had,I mean, long hair when he was
in Thailand.
He, I mean it was always like apretty clean cut individual, I

(01:02:09):
mean selling suits and just bynature he kind of always has
been, and we turn it on and allof a sudden he is like shaved
big bald, eyebrows shaved bald.
So we're like what did he gethimself into?
But like also just likewatching this and giggling and
trying to figure it all out.

So I was so scared my hair wasn't going to
grow back.
I would like look in the mirrorlike, oh, is it gone forever?

What have I done?
Yeah, speaking of anxiety.

Seriously talk about.
It was crazy.
So I took that money and Imoved home and my intent was to
finish school.
I still have one semester left.
I never finished Classic, andso I was like you know what that
was fun, maybe I should startup the suit thing again, yeah,
so I thought.

So, again, because , like you had this experience
in Thailand where, like youfound I mean probably
oversimplified, but you foundyourself, you found more
grounding, had all of theseexperiences that you knew, you
wanted to check off.
Those are done.
And now you have this kind oflike itch to scratch, of like
okay, now it's time to build mylife, build my empire.
And now you're like all right,let's go back to the suit thing

(01:03:15):
and see what we can do.

Yeah, Cause I knew I enjoyed it and I felt I
don't know, I felt like maybeI'll do this, let's try it.
So I put, I took the money thatI got from the TV show, which
was more money than I've everhad in my life, but still like
it wasn't like life changing inthat sense, Like oh, I'm good
for it, but gave you a littlebit of freedom in life to make a
couple of decisions.

Yeah.

So I was like I'm going to take a good chunk of
this money, I'm going to put itinto Google advertising.
And it started to get reallybusy and then they hit me up.
I got contacted again, the showgot renewed for a second season
and I was like all right, let'sdo it.
So I negotiated and I wasgetting paid like triple what I
got paid before and I was likeis this going to turn into

(01:03:59):
something?
You know?
And I get there?
And it was like a week beforewe started shooting and the King
of Thailand passed away, which,if you know anything about the
Thai culture and the royalfamilies, it's very revered,
especially the ninth king.
He was the king for what?
70 years, something like that.

So it's almost like the Queen of England dying,
but Tyler, bigger, bigger.

It's like, yeah, it's like Jesus dying dude.
It was morning in the streets,like all television production,
like TV shows were taken off,every station was just tributes
to him 24, seven black and white, no color.
Nobody's wearing anything butblack doing their day to day
work.
It was crazy.

(01:04:43):
So everything got put on ahiatus and I saw a bills at home
.
I saw the business I'm runningat home.

Like, I have a point as you.

And I just started running out of money, so
I stayed waiting for and the TVstation kept saying like no,
it'll come back.

Of course there's like yeah, just wait, just stay
here.
Next week.

I've been there for three months and I'm like I
have $5,000 left to my name,Like I need to buy a ticket home
, all this stuff, so, and Ihaven't yeah like the company's
not.

And during this time where you're waiting for
this to happen, are you seeingYing at all, or are you just
mostly just focused on the store?

No, no, I'd given up on Ying at this point.

So and so Ying like so during this time.
So you had gone, so yougraduated from school working
for your dad a little bit.
And so during this time, likewhat were you doing in your own
life?

Ying Nance (01:05:37):
So I was trying to work with my dad but because of
how the company is set up it isso hard to try to change them.

We've got a special guest their youngest
well only daughter now, lizzie,who just woke up from an app.

Yep, trying to work with my dad still, but it was
hard to change how the companywas structured and with, like,
older people and older workers,they don't want to change.

Yeah.

They don't want you to go in and change things.
So between those years that Imet Cam was 2015, to 20, like 17
, 18, it was just me trying towork with them but not working,
and so I was traveling most ofthe time, To be honest, pretty

(01:06:29):
much not doing anythingproductive, yeah.

But fun stuff nonetheless.
And is this like when youstarted posting some of your
like travel stuff to YouTube?
No, not yet.

I didn't start YouTube until I started dating
Cam.
He was the one who convinced meto start a YouTube channel.

Oh, I didn't know that.

Yeah, he was the one who said like hey, like you
have a lot of things that youwant to share, Like why don't
you start a YouTube channel?
Like people would watch yourYouTube channel.
And I was like no, they won't.
And like I can't speak in frontof a camera, Like I can't do
that.

Yeah, and it's so funny you say that because like
the ging I know now, because Imean I watch your YouTube videos
and like I subscribe.
And it's funny now because ifyou watch those YouTube videos I
would never guess that you'relike I don't want to be on
camera.
I don't like this.

Yeah, I mean, I'm not like.
I'm a person who, like I don'tlike going on, like I don't like
doing presentations in front ofa lot of people.
I get nervous if I'm on stageor anything like that.
So it took me a while to likeget used to being like on camera
and talking to the camera alone.

Well, tell them what your uncle like.
Just like a lot of like thebelittling and stuff.

One thing that made me always feel like I can't do a
lot of things just because myuncle who I don't know, I don't
think if it's jealous oranything that he's jealous of
how my dad is successful and,like my mom, is having like a
good life.
So he likes to tell.

(01:08:03):
He said something to my momthat I heard and it was like
your daughter is good at manythings, but not specifically
like anything.
She's like a duck, Like she cando a lot of things, but they're
not like.
She's not the best at anything.

(01:08:24):
You're like thank you and I'mlike is that true?

And she, like, took that to heart.

I mean, yeah, it's like an uncle, it's like I was
like eight.
That'll sit with you for awhile.

And he would brag about it and he loves bragging
about, like his daughters, howthey get A's and stuff like that
.
And I've never been good atschool Like I've never liked
school.
And I'm good at other things,like selling stuff online.
Like when my brother was famous, I would go into my dad's

(01:09:01):
factory and like make braceletand sell it to them like the
fans.

Yeah, and then sure they just bought it all,
yeah.

Like I'm good at like those stuff, but I'm not
good at school.

She's a really good entrepreneur.
Talk about carrot popcorn.

Oh.
So I went to a show with mybrother, like a TV show, and I
won like a like kind of like aprice and it was like $300.
And $300 was a lot for me backthen and I was like, oh, what am
I gonna do with this money?
So I went to get some popcornand it was carrot popcorn from

(01:09:43):
Chicago and I was like, why isthis thing so expensive?
It's like 12 bucks for like asmall box.
And so I tasted it and I waslike holy crap.

You're like, it all makes sense.
Now, like what?

kind of popcorn is this?
Like I need this.
So I was like maybe I can getit to come here and like sell it
too.
Like maybe I can like import it.
So I started looking and wewent to my family and I we went
to Hong Kong.
So I got about like I used thatmoney that I went to the show

(01:10:16):
and got the price and spent allof it on popcorns and brought it
back home from that trip andstarted an Instagram, started
posting online, having mybrothers hold it and, just like
all his celebrities friendposted.
I started taking orders.
And then I know that I, likeone of my friend, just started

(01:10:39):
to like study abroad inSingapore, and so on the
weekends I was like, hey, canyou do me a favor?
Can you go to the mall?
Can you get the manager'scontact from Garrett Popcorn?
And she did.
And so I reached out to her andI was like, can I place an
order from you and have you guysdeliver it to my dad's shipping

(01:11:02):
company?
And they're like, yeah, sure.
And so I didn't use any moneyto like like I only use that
$300 to invest in it, but Iwould take orders from the
customer and have them pay halffirst.
So basically those like thathalf of the money would fund the
order.

(01:11:23):
And I was making like $10,000.
Yeah, and so that time I was incollege and it was to the point
where I was like I don't careabout college anymore.

I don't care about exams.
You can go make money sellingpopcorn.

Yeah, I'm just gonna sell popcorns.
And yeah, I just startedselling it to the point where I
wanted to bring the franchiseinto Thailand.
But the manager told me, likedon't do it, it's not worth it.
Like once it's good, thecompany's gonna come in and take
over.
Like just don't do, it Makessense.
So I was like, okay, fine, Iguess I'm just gonna do it for

(01:11:59):
fun.
And then people started copyingand doing the same stuff.
So much like so manycompetitors.

So it was always a good sign that you're doing
something right.

Yeah, it was good, it's a good sign.
But also, like I was in mythird year of college and I was
like, okay, I need to finishthis.
It was a really tight thingwhere you need to finish college
.

So I and how much did you work?

What do you mean?

Like, weren't you like up all day at your dad's
office?

Yeah, I was up all day.
I was just you know not goingObsessed.
Yeah, I'm obsessed.
I'm not like studying anymore,but I have good friends so they
would like help me study and Ilike pass, like at like 51%,
like just barely passing.

Sees, get degrees yes barely passing it.

I'm lucky that my parents are not super strict.
As long as you pass, you'refine.

So and you did.

And I did yeah, that's awesome.
Yeah.
And then when I met Cam,started dating him.
That's when I actually grew up,yeah.
So I am not proud of this, butI would say that I was a really
spoiled kid, like during thosethree years after college.

(01:13:20):
I would just go on trips.
I would go to New York, I wouldgo to Paris, I would just go on
trips.

With daddy's credit card.

Yes, with daddy's credit card.
And I mean, and I alwaysthought that I will always have
daddy's credit card.

And like at this point in life you're like okay,
like family's pretty successful,I can do all these fun things
without too much work.
I'll probably marry someonefamous from Thailand and just
kind of continue.
This Is that kind of what youexpected at that point.

Yeah, like I would probably marry someone from a
good family in Thailand and likethings would be okay, like you
don't have to worry about money,even though I know that my
dad's company is kind of likestruggling at that point.
But I always thought he willfigure it out.
He's smart, he'll figure it out.

No problem, he works up.

He's 70, he still works like crazy yeah he's 70
right now and he still, like,tries to find things to do.

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S1,E3: Cameron and Ying Nance - Part 1

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.css-14f5ked{margin:0;word-break:break-word;display:-webkit-box;-webkit-box-orient:vertical;box-orient:vertical;-webkit-line-clamp:2;overflow:hidden;}S1,E3: Cameron and Ying Nance - Part 1