I’m a New Yorker. SortA. 

I was born in Flushing, New York, the son of Filipino immigrants. My mom came to America via Ilocos Norte and my dad via Pangasinan. We lived in Honolulu for a few years, but the rest of my childhood and all my teenage life happened in the Los Angeles suburb of Alhambra.

I’ve lived in New York, Los Angeles, New Orleans, Seattle, Frankfurt, Germany, and Paris, France.

sports was my coaching foundation.

I played baseball until I was a high school sophomore and then got bit by the gymnastics bug after watching the US Men’s Team take the gold medal in the 1984 Summer Olympics. I was a gym rat right from go, and I was coached by a gifted leader named Rich Boccia, who was also the US Gymnastics Federation’s Boys National Director. I admired his leadership and coaching skills. Though I started gymnastics so late in life, through intense dedication, a mere three years after I started, I was recruited to compete in college on an NCAA Division 1 team.

UNIVERSITY.

That college was West Point, the United States Military Academy. I wasn’t really a military guy, but I had an intense curiosity about leadership and the history surrounding great leaders from the Long Gray Line. I earned an Economics degree with a minor in Systems Engineering and Leadership.

UNIVERSITY.

That college was West Point, the United States Military Academy. I wasn’t really a military guy, but I had an intense curiosity about leadership and the history surrounding great leaders from the Long Gray Line. I earned an Economics degree with a minor in Systems Engineering and Leadership.

MY U.S. ARMY STINT

At 22, I was in charge of a tank platoon in Germany right out of college.  I was not very good at leading my troops. I was really underdeveloped emotionally and intellectually. I had a baby face. I wasn’t taken very seriously.  But the Army was a keen opportunity to develop my personal leadership philosophy.  My boss in the Army would go on to become the highest ranking general as the Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, and I’ve had several college classmates become generals.  The Army was its own circus.

I ran a gymnastics program in Germany.

In addition to my day job as an Army officer, I ran my own gymnastics program, the Friedberg Gymnastics Center in Friedberg, Germany, coaching girls and boys at all levels for USA Gymnastics sanctioned competitions. I loved coaching the kids and training them for success. 

TRAINING WITH OLYMPIC GYMNASTICS COACHES

After my short stint in the Army, I resumed training at the elite level, where I was trained by coaches from the former Soviet Union, including Eduard Azarian, gold medalist in the 1980 Olympics.  The Soviet Union’s gymnastics team was perennially the creme de la creme — flawless in execution, beautiful in presentation and virtuous in flight. I learned about the massive importance that basic fundamentals plays in being an elite gymnast, a foundation I lacked because I started so late and rushed my development. This appreciation for solid fundamentals shaped the philosophy from which I coach and lead people.

TRAINING WITH OLYMPIC GYMNASTICS COACHES

After my short stint in the Army, I resumed training at the elite level, where I was trained by coaches from the former Soviet Union, including Eduard Azarian, gold medalist in the 1980 Olympics.  The Soviet Union’s gymnastics team was perennially the creme de la creme — flawless in execution, beautiful in presentation and virtuous in flight. I learned about the massive importance that basic fundamentals plays in being an elite gymnast, a foundation I lacked because I started so late and rushed my development. This appreciation for solid fundamentals shaped the philosophy from which I coach and lead people.

20+ Years in the Film Industry.

I’ve worked in the film industry for twenty-four years, mainly as an assistant director (and member of the Directors Guild of America) but also as a producer and a director.

I’ve worked alongside many notable figures in the film industry at the highest levels, having hands-on experience and witnessing filmmaking excellence, day in and day out (and a lot of obnoxious egos) in the film set trenches. You gotta have circus blood to thrive in the film business. 

My film credits can be seen here on IMDB.

My Passion for Mentorship in the Film Industry.

As a member of the Board of Trustees at the Directors Guild Training Program, a diversity program focused on developing trainees to become top-notch assistant directors in film, I’ve developed a strong intuition about how to train and mentor individuals to reach their potential. I’ve spoken at various universities and film industry institutions on how to navigate the film industry and mentor many people looking to find success as filmmakers in various capacities.

I’ve led seminars on navigating the film industry and film production at universities and industry institutions such as the Directors Guild, Central Casting and at the Camera Union, Local 600.  

I’ve been building a filmmaking masterclass called Filmmaking 601 with one of my favorite filmmaking teammates, Tucker Hyland.  Coming soon.

I love learning about people.

I love being around them, getting to know what makes them tick and learning about cultures from all over the world and how they might respond to the same kinds of things in their nuanced mindsets. 

I love fests and parties and massive crowds of different cultures.  One of my favorite things to do during American football Sundays is tending bar at LA Rams tailgates, where I meet and entertain people from all over the country.

TRAVELING IS MY JAM. 

I always like to deeply immerse myself and get local, right away. I am pursuing a CEFRL B2 level of proficiency in French (fumbling through, honestly) and enjoy communicating in other languages as well. Semantics is everything! 

Some of my favorite places include Paris, Berlin, Costa Rica, Barcelona and Amsterdam.  I visited the mother country, the Philippines, for the first time as an adult in December 2019!  

TRAVELING IS MY JAM. 

I always like to deeply immerse myself and get local, right away. I am pursuing a CEFRL B2 level of proficiency in French (fumbling through, honestly) and enjoy communicating in other languages as well. Semantics is everything! 

Some of my favorite places include Paris, Berlin, Costa Rica, Barcelona and Amsterdam.  I visited the mother country, the Philippines, for the first time as an adult in December 2019!  

Music is My Church.

I will go all over the world to see a show.  I marvel at musicianship and soulful emotion and the energy of a huge crowd. Some of my favorites have been U2 in the Philippines (my 35th U2 show), Arcade Fire in Paris, Depeche Mode in Frankfurt, and Pearl Jam in Seattle. 

I make a lot of mixtapes.  Here’s one for you: Stay On Your Path Vol. 1 

I play competitive tennis.

I play tennis almost everyday.  My goal is to play international senior tennis tournaments at my age bracket.  I also enjoy giving dudes twenty years younger than me a run for their money.

I love tennis so much because I meet so many different kinds of people from all over the world.

Besides the Stay On Your Path program, I also coach tennis as part of Stay On Your Path Tennis coaching, with a holistic approach and an emphasis on basic fundamentals as the key to unlocking one’s potential.

I play competitive tennis.

I play tennis almost everyday.  My goal is to play international senior tennis tournaments at my age bracket.  I also enjoy giving dudes twenty years younger than me a run for their money.

I love tennis so much because I meet so many different kinds of people from all over the world.

Besides the Stay On Your Path program, I also coach tennis as part of Stay On Your Path Tennis coaching, with a holistic approach and an emphasis on basic fundamentals as the key to unlocking one’s potential.

I BLEED DODGER BLUE.

My favorite moment ever is Kirk Gibson’s home run in the 1988 World Series. 

I once drove around the country going to most of the Major League baseball stadiums, including the Field of Dreams in Dyersville, Iowa and the Baseball Hall of Fame.

I BLEED DODGER BLUE.

My favorite moment ever is Kirk Gibson’s home run in the 1988 World Series.

I once drove around the country going to most of the Major League baseball stadiums, including the Field of Dreams in Dyersville, Iowa and the Baseball Hall of Fame.

I love to write.

It took decades for me to find my authentic voice.  You can read some of it here on Vince Duque Stories or on my personal IG.

I love to write.

It took decades for me to find my authentic voice.  You can read some of it here on Vince Duque Stories or on my personal IG.

I Love Photography.

I’ve been snapping photos since high school but it took me a long time to figure out my personal visual voice.  

Soon, I’ll be putting out a memoir called Inside Me Inside Paris that combines my writing and my photography.

My Dark Side.

I’ve done lots of therapy and took my share of antidepressants. I had a very dark five year period. I was suicidal at one point in my life. I had a mini-stroke in 2017 and that was a wake-up call that anything can happen at any time so you might as well f’ing live it up.

I did a lot of stupid shit in my life, not out of malice, but because I simply didn’t have the framework and I was yearning for affection, attention and validation.  The year old me still needs a big hug sometimes.

I attribute a lot of my depression to two things: a lack of a good support community and drinking the kool aid of the American Dream. Read the story here.

In addition to my pursuit of self-mastery, I’ve been doing reparenting and inner child work.

My Coaching Thoughts and Experience.

Coaching and teaching has always been in my blood. My first coaching experience was at 13, coaching a flag football team of 8-year-old boys. I had no idea what I was doing but I remember how much I loved being part of their journey to work on their life skills.

My coaching knowledge isn’t groundbreaking. All of this stuff is out there if you want to look. I’m obsessed about studying coaching techniques on achieving high-level performance in everything from leadership, to athletics, to creativity. I see everything from a holistic perspective.

Coaching is a craft. Learning is a craft.  A craft I learned firsthand by getting my PhD in life and relationships, conducting a lifelong field study of the wide and global spectrum of the human condition. I feel like I barely scratched the surface. So many possibilities.

I’m a casual observer of the human carnival. -Patrick Marber

My Coaching Thoughts and Experience.

Coaching and teaching has always been in my blood. My first coaching experience was at 13, coaching a flag football team of 8-year-old boys. I had no idea what I was doing but I remember how much I loved being part of their journey to work on their life skills.

My coaching knowledge isn’t groundbreaking. All of this stuff is out there if you want to look. I’m obsessed about studying coaching techniques on achieving high-level performance in everything from leadership, to athletics, to creativity. I see everything from a holistic perspective.

Coaching is a craft. Learning is a craft.  A craft I learned firsthand by getting my PhD in life and relationships, conducting a lifelong field study of the wide and global spectrum of the human condition. I feel like I barely scratched the surface. So many possibilities.

I’m a casual observer of the human carnival. -Patrick Marber

Augmenting my coaching approach is my never ending thirst for achieving my own self-mastery as it relates to every aspect of my life: my professional career, my creativity, my personal life as a relationship partner and a friend, a contributor to global society, being a tennis player, learning French…all of it. 

I wasn’t on my path for many years (I thought I was) and all my life I was a late-bloomer with practically everything in which I’ve been involved. I successfully managed my depression and suicidal ideation.  All this said, to say that, man, it was rough for a long time, so in choosing to live, I’m only interested anymore in spending the second half of my life as my authentic me. 

To do so, I’ve been experimenting on myself with various cognitive, mental, social and emotional tools.  I’m my own guinea pig. 

I’m intensely curious about studying holistic approaches on various interconnected aspects of high performance such as: eating and recovery habits, neuroscience (the structure or function of the nervous system and brain), breathing work, deep focus work, flow states, theories on habits, and mindfulness.

Complimenting those approaches with a nuanced knowledge of various branches of psychology helps me understand how best to implement the training to become my authentic self and live more often in a high-performance state of existence, in order to enjoy the rest of my life. 

The experiment is going well.  With my new discoveries, synergized with my passion and life-long experiences in coaching, I’m excited to help others Stay on Their Path.

I’m an immersive art student about the process of being creative. 

I’ve observed and experienced, firsthand, in writing rooms, in music recording studios and on film sets, many other artists’ journeys and their processes to make art, both in the independent arena, the new digital spaces, and at the professional industry level.  

As someone who considers that solving complex problems is a creative endeavor in itself, I enjoy looking under the hood to take apart the engine of systems.

For example, in regards to comedy, I took improv classes, read books and attended workshops on comedy,  and worked at different echelons to make comedy. I took an acting class for six months to intensely get into the mind and process of the actor. I’m not a practicing musician, but I took guitar, drum and piano lessons for a year. It took me many years to discover an effective creative process that worked for me. 

I’m an immersive art student about the process of being creative. 

I’ve observed and experienced, firsthand, in writing rooms, in music recording studios and on film sets, many other artists’ journeys and their processes to make art, both in the independent arena, the new digital spaces, and at the professional industry level.  

As someone who considers that solving complex problems is a creative endeavor in itself, I enjoy looking under the hood to take apart the engine of systems.

For example, in regards to comedy, I took improv classes, read books and attended workshops on comedy,  and worked at different echelons to make comedy. I took an acting class for six months to intensely get into the mind and process of the actor. I’m not a practicing musician, but I took guitar, drum and piano lessons for a year. It took me many years to discover an effective creative process that worked for me. 

I have an analog soul.

A mindset of old school and new school combined is how we preserve humanity, I think.

I love the possibilities and the democratization that has been created by digital technologies, but deep in my heart, human connection and interaction is at the essence of being authentic.

Way too many snake oil salespeople and easy-made influencers out in the digital domain, and it’s getting incredibly difficult to distinguish what’s genuinely real versus what is just high resolution digital set dressing.

My journey of self-discovery – the ups and downs, surprises and opportunities, luck and misfortune, people I’ve loved and loved me back, people who hated my guts at one point, the costly decisions I’ve made, the risks I’ve taken, the eclectic and robust journey and the many people I’ve met from all over the world – all of it, led me to the moment where a butterfly landed in my lap, walked in my hand, and stayed there with me for five minutes.

The feelings of peace and purity that I felt that day, inspired me to make a vow to feel like this as often as I could. I finally found my path. Everything that I do now is about staying on my path. And it’s led me to help you get and Stay On Your Path.

My life of ups and downs, surprises and opportunities, luck and misfortune, people I’ve loved and loved me back, people who hated my guts at one point, the costly decisions I’ve made, the risks I’ve taken, the eclectic and robust journey and the many people I’ve met from all over the world – all of it, led me to the moment where a butterfly landed in my lap, walked in my hand, and stayed there with me for five minutes.

The feelings of peace and purity that I felt that day, inspired me to make a vow to feel like this as often as I could. I finally found my path. Everything that I do now is about staying on my path. And it’s led me to help you get and
Stay On Your Path.

Allez!