“When a woman glows from within, she doesn’t just change her life. She changes the

atmosphere around her.”

For author and award-winning educator Kimly Hoang-Nakata, M.Ed., this belief is more than a

guiding philosophy. It is the foundation of her transformative work in ‘The Glow’: How to Lead

with Light and Live with Purpose, a handbook that blends neuroscience, storytelling, and soul-

centered leadership to help women reclaim their inner fire.

Born in Central Vietnam and raised in the United States from the age of nine, Hoang-Nakata

grew up straddling cultures and expectations. She watched her parents work tirelessly, carrying

the weight of survival and sacrifice, while she learned to adapt, excel, and fit into unfamiliar

spaces. “My background shaped resilience in me,” she says. “Circumstances don’t define us. I

embrace my identity, language, and culture while learning to make the best of both worlds.” But even the strongest foundations can crack under pressure.

Years later, while balancing motherhood, full-time work, graduate studies, and the invisible

emotional labor expected of so many women, she reached a quiet breaking point. One night, in

the stillness of feeding her daughter, she whispered the words that changed everything: “I don’t

even know who I am anymore.” It wasn’t sorrow she felt it was grief for the vibrant, curious

woman she had once been. That moment became the seed of ‘The Glow’, a journey from

depletion back to alignment.

“Glow means keeping your light lit, even during a storm,” she explains. “Not pretending the storm isn’t there, but refusing to abandon yourself in the middle of it.”

In The Glow, Hoang-Nakata combines the science of stress with the wisdom of emotional

leadership. Her framework Reflect, Recalibrate, Rise guides women out of burnout and back

into connection with themselves. Reflection brings awareness to what feels misaligned.

Recalibration offers a small but meaningful shift toward balance. Rising is the empowered

transformation that emerges when inner change begins to show up outwardly.

Her approach is deeply rooted in neuroscience, especially the realities of an overwhelmed

nervous system. Hoang-Nakata believes that when women understand the biology of stress,

they stop blaming themselves for exhaustion. “You’re not broken,” she says. “Your nervous

system is overwhelmed. Once you understand that, something softens.”

She wrote ‘The Glow’ for the woman who is always the first to rise and the last to rest: the

educator, the nurse, the entrepreneur, the caregiver, the immigrant daughter trying to honor

every expectation laid on her shoulders. On paper, she is successful. Internally, she questions

whether life is meant to feel like constant overextension.

“What I want her to know is this: she is not failing. She is exhausted. She is not too much. She

is carrying too much. Her light was never lost, it may be dimmed, but it is still hers.”

Hoang-Nakata believes that the handbook’s message is urgently needed in a culture that

glorifies hustle while quietly stressing women out from the inside. She offers a new definition of

Strength, one that includes softness, nervous system calm, and emotional safety. Real

success, she argues, comes from being connected to what matters most, not from constant

Productivity.

In her vision, one woman’s glow creates ripples far beyond herself. A parent who practices

compassion reshapes a family’s emotional landscape. A leader who responds with calm shifts

an entire workplace. A woman who honors her truth gives others permission to do the same.

“When she glows,” Hoang-Nakata says, “she doesn’t blind others. She invites them into their

own light.”

Her greatest hope is that readers close ‘The Glow’ not only understanding burnout better, but

understanding themselves more deeply and realizing they don’t need life to slow down in order

to shine.

Kimly Hoang-Nakata, M.Ed., is an award-winning author, educator, MindSmart Learning

Specialist, and CEO/Founder of Achieve Education, MindSmart Learning, and Glow Circle.

Known for her signature message, “Lead with light, not with pressure,” she blends

neuroscience, psychology, and storytelling to help students, women, and families rediscover

calm, confidence, and purpose. Her work has been recognized internationally and featured on

Global Thought Leaders TV and Magazines, and she contributed to The Impact Leaders alongside Shark Tank’s Kevin Harrington and fellow International Impact Book Awards honorees.

A mother of three and Author of the Year Finalist in Hollywood, Kimly speaks in schools, organizations, and women’s leadership circles on transforming burnout into brilliance and purpose into presence through The Glow Community. Kimly has received the Exceptional Educator of Excellence and Inspirational Teacher Award from NBC 7 News.

Kimly continues to teach, mentor, and uplift the next generation, with

compassion, creativity, and courage.

Learn more at: www.achieve.education

Contact: Support@achieve.education