Back in 2011, Van Tran needed a big-girl job. Fresh out of college with a foundation in painting and drawing, and working part-time at a feed store decorating dog cakes, Van knew she wanted something administrative, and when she found a Craigslist posting for a front desk position at an “MMA gym” called Easton Training Center (yes, we’ve changed a lot over the years!), she jumped at the opportunity.
Her boyfriend at the time, a fighter, trained in MMA, and Van found the world both exciting and more familiar than she otherwise would have through watching fights and going to his camps. She submitted her resume and, after interviewing, got immediately hired.
Today, Van balances two major roles at Easton: Academy Operations Director (AOD) at Denver and Creative Director for all of Easton. She spends three to four hours daily on management tasks, focused on smooth operations at the academy and the success of her staff. The rest of her time, particularly on weekends, is dedicated to design work. She handles everything from 2D graphics to apparel and merchandise, blending her creative talents with administrative leadership.
Though she’d been exposed to the world of martial arts previously through her relationship, Van’s own training started lightly. Coming from a childhood where limited funds meant sparse experience in traditional team sports, Van’s initial fitness journey had revolved primarily around running and lifting when she got into college. She had taken a few martial arts classes with her ex, and he taught her some things here and there, but getting on the mats at Easton was a whole new experience.
She dabbled in striking, but took a little while to fully commit to a training regimen. Eventually, the mats became less intimidating, and over the next couple of years, Van began training more consistently — both in Muay Thai and Kickboxing. By 2017, alongside managing the front desk at Easton Denver, Van began coaching Kickboxing. Today, along with Kickboxing, Van also coaches a Strength and Conditioning class at Denver.
Coaching and management
While management and coaching require a similar form of patience and structured thinking, her creative work taps into a completely different mindset. Working with others means responding in real time to their needs and challenges, but when Van steps into her creative zone, she’s not managing anybody, and she’s often at home, working by herself.
With coaching and management, however, it comes down to understanding what people need and creatively thinking through solutions that best address these needs in real time. When she first started coaching, Van found that she had certain expectations, or wanted things done in a particular way, and could get frustrated when that didn’t happen.
“I’d get frustrated that I wasn’t helping someone I was training grow,” Van says, “because I wouldn’t let go of the little things.”
Quickly, however, she realized two things: not everybody is the same when it comes to learning curves, and not everyone absorbs information the same way. Not every student will understand things as quickly as the next, but most importantly – it’s not actually about letting things go; it’s about finding the right way to communicate the feedback.
“If they’re making a mistake,” says Van, “you still need to point out the mistake, but it’s more about communicating it efficiently to where they’re able to pick up that information.”
As the Academy Operations Director at Easton Denver, Van’s priorities lie in keeping a pulse on each department, from admin to each division of martial arts, and ensuring that nobody feels forgotten. Between the front desk, Muay Thai, Jiu Jitsu, Kids Martial Arts, there are a lot of moving parts and along with keeping up with all of them, Van needs to make sure that people feel comfortable approaching her with whatever they need.
Sometimes, she finds, people may not know if their concern is something they can approach her with, and they might be hesitant to come to her. To stay ahead of this, Van makes sure to check in on people and remind them she’s available. She tries to catch things before they become larger situations and make sure she responds quickly if not at the academy so that staff and students feel supported and heard.
“I don’t want them to fail,” says Van of Denver’s staff. “Their success is my success, and to help them be successful, I have to be available.”
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The art of switching hats
One of Van’s biggest daily challenges includes shifting between administrative management and creative design. Management demands constant communication, checking others’ work, problem-solving, and ensuring operations run efficiently.
This means responding to situations in real time and making herself available as a resource to anyone who needs her. Her daily routine involves auditing schedules, checking staff work, and handling daily tasks before walking her dog and transitioning into design mode.
Unlike the structured world of administration, design requires an entirely different mental space – often messy but rewarding. Once on the creative side, Van must tap into artistic inspiration, anticipate fashion trends, and meet tight production deadlines.
“It’s not just about what will sell,” says Van. “It’s, is this color in season? What apparel do we want to release? What’s the deadline for getting this into production? There are a lot of moving parts, so much more than just having a pen and paper, drawing and BAM, it’s on a shirt.”
She tells us that one design can take between one and 15 hours of work. Van starts with rough sketches – any idea that comes to mind – then plugs these images into a different computer program where she meticulously outlines the images, refines them and adjusts until she reaches the finished designs.
Since a single design can take a while, focused design time can make it difficult to balance with other responsibilities and burnout is often inevitable. Sometimes, by the end of a workday, Van just wants to cook dinner and unplug.
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Finding meaning and fulfillment
Despite the challenges, Van finds immense fulfillment in her role at Easton. After over 13 years with the company and growing from a front desk employee into a leadership role, she’s witnessed and contributed to the academy’s transformation.
From the 50,000-foot view and over a decade of honing and refining our core values, it’s rewarding to see the progress. As an eight-school academy, it’s important to constantly course correct – notice when you’re veering off path and readjust rather than ignore the warning signs.
“Easton does a good job fixing things we can see as problems,” says Van, “and it’s really cool I get to be a part of that. A lot of the steps of growing, and I’m very grateful to be a part of that transition/transformation.
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Professionally (and personally), Van tells us that it’s been a surreal experience; she’s grateful that not only has she found a community that motivates, pushes and even goes snowboarding with her, but that she gets to exercise her creative side and get paid for it.
On the creative side, getting to see her designs out in the wild has become one of her favorite things. Walking into a room full of Easton members sporting apparel she created is both surreal and rewarding – though sometimes it can feel like a gallery filled with old work from numerous creative eras. While her aesthetic has evolved over the years, Van appreciates playing such a big part in Easton’s visual history.
Whether it’s managing operations, coaching athletes or designing apparel, Van has made an indelible mark on Easton. Her journey from front desk employee to Creative Director and AOD is a testament to her dedication, adaptability and passion for both the sports and the community – and a reminder of how we can all find our unique place within a structured landscape.
