The Journey
As crazy as it sounds, life is a beautiful journey, and Mai Ka believes we can all learn, grow, and share a bit of wisdom with one another.
From passion to business here is where it all begins!
Hmong clothes photo credit: Manda’s Photography and Designs
The Ancestral Roots of Art
Mai Ka grew up viewing everything as art. From a young age, she learned the patience of traditional basket weaving from her grandfather and watched her seamstress mother and silversmith father create art right at home. In that environment, she learned to see the world differently—to her, even science was an expression of art.
In Mai Ka’s early elementary school years, one of her teachers gathered Mai Ka and her friends to start a Hmong dance group to showcase the beauty of Hmong culture and its traditional arts. However, after a few performances, the group went their separate ways and Mai Ka moved schools. From there, she continued to explore various creative mediums on her own.
Sound, Silence & Nature
In 2011, through an after-school program, Mai Ka had the opportunity to join a worship team as a vocalist. There, she began exploring musical sounds and their deep, vibrational connection with the universe.
Unfortunately, during this time, Mai Ka’s mental health took a heavy toll on her and she lost her voice. As those challenges built up over the course of many years, she stayed away from everything she once held a passion for. This quiet season ultimately led her to connect deeply with nature.
Capturing Light in the Chaos
In 2014, Mai Ka started her photography journey as a way to capture physical evidence of her happy times—creating memories somewhere only she knows—capsulating something tangible she could look back on for enjoyment and peace.
In 2016, she took a leap of faith and shared her work with a small group of audience under the name everest_mk.
In 2019, Mai Ka traveled overseas. In that space, she deeply reconnected with herself and began her formal reflection journey. It was a life-changing moment that inspired her to finally take action on a dream she had carried in her heart since she was 12 years old: the vision for Lenses & Perspectives.
The Evolution of the Ecosystem
In June of 2020, Mai Ka officially founded Lenses & Perspectives, entering a deep, multi-year phase of dedicated research and structural foundation building. What began as a childhood dream is today an active developing humanitarian organization and upcoming home dedicated to sheltering, empowering, and mentoring orphans, and those in need of a safe place to return to—alongside their beloved animal companions.
In 2021, as her reflection journey deepened, Mai Ka took her creative passion a step further and founded Only We Know Photography by Mai Ka Yang (MK).
The Shift to Remembrance
From losing her voice to losing herself, and from finding her voice to finding herself—in July of 2021 Mai Ka discovered her shamanic calling. In that profound awakening, she realized she had never actually been lost; she had simply forgotten who she was for a moment amid life's chaos.
As she continued navigating this three-year chapter of her self-healing journey (a true journey of remembrance), she realized she had naturally been life coaching people for years. To ground this gift, on December 14, 2022, she became a certified Master Life Coach on a mission to assist others through their own inner landscape.
In 2023, Mai Ka officially integrated sound healing and Reiki mastery into her practice, focusing on restoring the vital vibrational frequencies of the body’s energy systems. By October 2023, she made the intentional decision to merge her lifetime of photography with her strategic coaching and ancestral healing protocols.
The Final Integration
In April 2025, after three years of integrating her professional training, ancestral gifts, and real-world crisis insights she founded Behind Your Shadow, LLC. The practice was launched to expand her impact forward. Dedicated to bettering the well-being of animals, individuals, families, and communities, while she continues to finalize the structural details of the Lenses & Perspectives non-profit.
Follow Mai Ka and BYS on social media or sign up for Mai Ka’s Newsletter for more of her work updates and upcoming projects.
Tools for the Soul’s Journey
Following four years of deep, intentional unlearning, in Feb 2025, Mai Ka was inspired to create physical tools to accompany her healing practice. What began as a foundational merch shop went through a complete intentional rebrand in May 2026, resulting in MAI KA’S Collection. Today, the shop stands as a curated sanctuary of premium wearable art serving as tangible, capsulated reminders for the soul’s personal journey.
Learn more about MAI KA’S Collection here.
Shop MAI KA’S Collection here.
The Return to Creation
In April 2026, after a long season of self-discovery and unlearning, Mai Ka made a fierce return to the creative canvas. Today, she is actively stepping back into the arena to take on bold conceptual projects through Artist Collaboration. She returned not just as an artist, but as a fully realized Curator and Visionary—allowing art to lead the conversation and healing to lead to the vision.
Learn more about how to collaborate with Mai Ka here.
Read Mai Ka’s 2026 Creative Manifesto here.
Where is Mai Ka Today?
Current Projects & Focus Area:
Behind Your Shadow, LLC: Assisting you on your healing journey every step of the way.
Speaking & Keynote: Sharing a spark of wisdom wherever opportunity calls.
Lenses & Perspectives: Strategic development research
Art Collaboration: Creating from a space of just being and going where the vision leads.
MAI KA’S Collection: Providing you with tangible and capsulated tools for your soul’s journey.
Resources
Remember, MK (Personal Blog): Sharing my stories and experiences to assist you on your healing journey.
The Book of Healing: A collection of resources to assist you on your own healing journey.
“Where am I today?
I am on an adventure into the unknown. The world is vast. I have only just begun living and my art has just started introducing itself to me.
As for healing…
The journey of self-healing and service is ongoing. As I continue to grow individually, expand Behind Your Shadow, LLC and research the non-profit work of Lenses & Perspectives, I am actively focused on several passion projects rooted in creation and connection.”
- Mai Ka (MK)
