Duong Hoang’s story is the ultimate Ottawa glow-up.

He grew up in Chinatown, always trying to find where he fit in. Years later, that search for belonging turned into a mission to create it—for everyone.

From building spaces like Standard Luxe Tavern, Stay Gold Pizza, and now Good Neighbour, Duong has redefined what community feels like. Whether you’re a local regular, an entrepreneur, or an NHL superstar (which he calls a few his good friends), when you walk through his doors, you’re home.

What started as slinging Detroit-style pizza out the back of a bar during the pandemic has exploded into a globally recognized Stay Gold experience, drawing fans from across the world.

Now, he’s sprinkling that same magic into the holidays with Sippin' Santa and Miracle on Elgin—two festive pop-ups that prove you can’t have a bad time in a Christmas-themed anything.

This episode dives into how Duong built belonging out of hustle, creativity, and heart—and how radical hospitality became his superpower.

🎧 Listen now and get in on the holiday cheer before it’s too late—tables available on Resy and OpenTable.

Most people are intimidated by wine—not because they don’t love it, but because they don’t know where to start. The language, the labels, the culture… it can feel exclusive, even snobbish. But what if someone could help you discover your love of wine by meeting you exactly where you are?

In this episode of Tune Up Your Warrior, Jenny sits down with her good friend Ryan Tapping, Division Manager at Profile Wine Group and former capital markets pro who found his way to the world of wine through life-altering adversity—including surviving cancer and choosing to rebuild around passion and purpose.

Ryan is one of the most down-to-earth, generous storytellers in the industry. He doesn’t come from hospitality—he comes from finance and marketing. And maybe that’s what makes him so good at what he does. His love of wine is grounded in curiosity and connection, not competition or critique.

Together, Jenny and Ryan explore:

• The journey from capital markets to cabernets

• How surviving cancer reshaped Ryan’s definition of a good life

• The beauty of wine as a cultural, global, and deeply human experience

• Why wine doesn’t need to be complicated to be meaningful

• How trade, tariffs, and global tensions quietly shape what ends up on your table

• And Ryan’s fall/winter wine picks: a red, a white, and a sparkling for every type of drinker
  

This episode is about wine—but it’s also about resilience, reinvention, and how we can all learn to appreciate the world through someone else’s glass.

Mark Borowiecki built his reputation in the NHL as one of the league’s toughest defensemen — fearless, relentless, and never afraid to drop the gloves. But what makes him remarkable is not just his career, but the heart behind it.

Known to fans as “BoroCop,” Mark has become one of hockey’s strongest advocates for men’s mental health. From speaking out about men's mental health to sharing his own journey with OCD and anxiety, he’s used his platform to break stigma in a sport that often prizes silence.

In this episode, Jenny Chen sits down with Mark to talk about:

• 🏒 Lessons from his decade-long NHL career with Ottawa and Nashville

• 💛 Why even as an enforcer, he leads with kindness and compassion

• 👨‍👩‍👧‍👦 How fatherhood is shaping the legacy he wants to build for Miles, Leigh, and Devyn

• 🌍 Why the next generation of athletes needs to see strength redefined

  
  

This is a conversation about toughness, tenderness, and leaving the game better than you found it.

In this powerful episode of Tune Up Your Warrior, host Jenny Chen sits down with the trailblazing Honorary Lieutenant-Colonel Judge Albert Wong—a retired citizenship judge, decorated military captain, peacekeeper, strategist, and proud father—whose career has been marked by a series of meaningful “firsts.”

Albert began his public-service journey in 1976, has dedicated 39 years to the Canadian military, and has sworn in over 100,000 new Canadians, embodying nearly five decades of continuous public service. From being the first of Chinese descent to serve as Chief Aide-de-Camp to the Lieutenant Governor of Ontario to his ongoing community leadership, Albert’s life work has centered on service, humanity, and transformational leadership.

But this conversation goes beyond titles. Jenny and Albert explore what it means to lead from behind—lifting others, challenging patriarchal systems, and creating space for people, especially Asian Canadians, to rise on their own terms.

Jenny reflects on meeting Albert at the Senate of Canada in 2023 during the centennial commemoration of the Chinese Exclusion Act—a moment that reignited her connection to her Chinese identity and deepened her commitment to storytelling, representation, and truth-telling.

Recorded shortly after Albert received his honorary doctorate from the University of Waterloo on October 24, this episode honours his legacy while looking forward—to the systems we need to transform, the people we need to champion, and the world we’re all responsible for shaping.

Albert will also be speaking and leading during the Canadian Armed Forces’ public apology for systemic racism on October 30 at Old City Hall in Ottawa—another pivotal moment in his lifelong commitment to service and change.

To find out more about Judge Albert Wong, follow him on LinkedIn here.

Fertility care has long been treated as a personal, private struggle. But what if we reframed it as a public health issue—rooted in equity, access, and modern realities?

In this episode, Dr. Rhonda Zwingerman—OB-GYN and co-founder of Twig Fertility—joins Jenny to talk about why it’s time we rethink reproductive care. Together, they explore why traditional systems haven’t kept pace with how people live, work, and plan families today—and what proactive, inclusive, compassionate fertility care could look like.

We discuss:

• How career timelines and biological realities are colliding

• Why education around fertility needs to happen before crisis

• What equity really means in fertility care

• And how we can move from reactive treatment to empowered planning

🎧 This episode is released in honour of World Fertility Day (Nov 2), because awareness is the first step to empowerment.

To find our more about Twig Fertility, visit https://twigfertility.com/

What happens when you build a business rooted in humanity—and still deliver elite-level results?

In this episode, Jenny sits down with Jenniffer Alvarenga, co-founder of Good Story Realty Group and one of Ottawa’s Forty Under 40, to talk about redefining success in real estate and beyond.

From immigrating to Canada as a student to launching a boutique real estate brand with her husband Leo, Jenniffer’s journey is one of resilience, leadership, and purpose. Together, they’re proving that luxury service doesn’t have to feel cold—and kindness is never a liability in business.

They discuss:

✔️ How Jenniffer turned her immigrant story into a leadership blueprint

✔️ Building a values-driven brand in a competitive industry

✔️ Why real estate is about relationships, not just transactions

✔️ What it means to be visible as a Latina entrepreneur in Canada

📍This is a story about integrity, excellence—and doing business differently.

For more information on Jenniffer and Good Story Real Estate Team, visit https://goodstory.ca/

In this special episode, Jenny sits down with her daughter, Trinity, just before she heads off to university—for a raw and beautiful conversation about motherhood, healing, and rewriting the story you came from.

Jenny reflects on how becoming a mother changed her, how anger and generational trauma shaped her early years of parenting, and how Trinity became the catalyst for the healing they both needed.

Together, they open up about:

💔 The pain of repeating patterns—and the power of choosing differently

💬 Forgiveness, growth, and the messy, honest work of breaking cycles

👩‍👧 What it means to evolve not just as parent and child—but as women

🌱 And how healing can happen across generations, when we do the work together

Whether you're a parent, a child, or someone trying to heal from what you were handed—this conversation is a reminder that transformation starts with truth.

🎧 Listen, share, and keep tuning up your warrior.

What if the way we talk about mental health is actually part of the problem?

Chris Ide is a father, advocate, and President of the Royal Ottawa Foundation for Mental Health—and in this powerful conversation, he shares why it’s time to stop treating mental health like a separate issue. As his son once asked, “If it’s your brain, isn’t it just… health?”

In this episode, Chris and Jenny explore:

🧠 Why the language we use around mental health matters more than we think

👨‍👨‍👦 His family’s powerful adoption story and the role of visibility in breaking stigma

🏥 How the Royal Ottawa is leading innovation for treatment-resistant depression

💡 What it looks like to lead with compassion—and still create lasting change

Whether you’re a healthcare leader, a parent, or someone trying to make space for healing—this episode reminds us that care isn’t a side issue. It’s the issue. And our path forward starts with how we see, support, and talk about health.

🎧 Listen, reflect, and share. To find out more about The Royal Ottawa Hospital Foundation, visit https://www.theroyal.ca/get-involved/about-foundation