How a Martial Arts Gym Trained Me to Build an Inclusive Culture

Ken Kao
11 min readJul 10, 2019
Image Credits: Five Points Academy

(This article originally appeared in TechCrunch on June 29, 2019.)

A wave of unease immediately swept through my body. Constant puffing and growling echoed around me as heavily-tattooed fighters threw forceful punches into the heavy bags. This was the scene I encountered when I stepped into Five Points Academy, a martial arts fighting gym in New York, for…

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Ken Kao

Product-minded Engineering Leader. Organization & Cultural Builder. Traveler. Martial Artist (Muay Thai & Pekiti Tirsia Kali).