Posted by Annie Tyson
Well, what hasn’t Sang done? Sang took us on a global, whirlwind and humourous journey: NZ, USA, Korea, back to NZ.  But let’s first back up the truck…Sang arrived in NZ from Korea as a 7 year old who spoke absolutely no English. 
His Mum had come here to study horticulture. Sang’s vivid first impression was how green the country was and he cheekily shared with us his early love of roundabouts where with Mum as driver and him as navigator, he ensured he made his mum drive around and around as many as possible when navigating her from point A to B.  (According to Sang, his mum remains a shocking driver). About 20 years ago his family bought Annabel’s Bistro in St Heliers.  Sang was sent to Kings College as a Boarder and he advised he didn’t really understand why (living so close) he couldn’t attend as a day pupil, but confessed this was probably his Mum's "roundabout" revenge!
 
Following College, he headed to Auckland University to study property but in reality the first semester was a disaster due to having too much of good time, so second year in,  he decided to knuckle down. While "knuckling down" a former school mate by the name of Ryan Fox caught his attention.  Feeling he was as good at golf as Foxie, Sang decided he could also strive to be a "pro golfer" so he quit university and hit the golf course, giving himself a year to try and pick up a golf scholarship in the USA.  Right toward the end of his year, he played in a US golf tournament in Miami and came third!  Scholarship scouts saw him and made a number of interesting offers.  Missouri won out, and he attended University of Missouri on a golf scholarship for 4 years.
 
According to Sang, by chance, he was next offered an internship at Boeing Air Corporation for 8 months where he worked as an interpreter on top secret military planes. One of the friends he made there was from the Republican Party which somehow led Sang to then working for the Republican Party for 6 months.  While doing this he was thrilled to have the opportunity to meet with some high profile US politicians, including Colin Powell.
 
When Sang’s application for a green card (sponsored by Boeing) was cancelled, he returned to NZ, but not for long! His Mum’s mentor in Korea contacted Sang, offering him the opportunity to manage the International Asian Department at Korea University and combine this with completing his MBA. While there he broke his nose and at the University Hospital the Consultant approached him to recruit USA trained Plastic Surgeons to work in South Korea.
 
He was then "shoulder tapped"to join San Francisco’s America’s Cup - Team Korea as the interrupter for a couple of months and during this time his sailing interest took off. He has since sailed from San Francisco to New York and also from Jamaica where they had to out run a typhoon en route to New York! Currently Sang is "on call" for one of the legs the of round the world Volvo Ocean Race. 
 
We could have listened until lunch time.  Oh, did I mention sometime along the way, Sang became one of the five National Party candidates in 2017 for Pakuranga and also through his Republican mate he attended Trump's inauguration???  Truly amazing to hear your story (so far) Sang.  Thank you - we look forward to further instalments.