Chi Force with Master Ren Guangyi

Creative & Operations Lead

Chen Tai Chi carries a beautiful duality that takes years to truly understand: it is simultaneously explosive and serene, powerful and deeply healing. As a long-time Chen Tai Chi practitioner, I joined Chi Force not only as a designer but as someone who genuinely understands the art, its community, and what draws people to it. That insider perspective shaped everything I built there.

Over three years, my role evolved from web and graphic design and marketing support into creative and operational leadership — driving brand strategy, technical infrastructure, marketing, analytics, and the customer experience that kept students engaged and loyal.

Brand Strategy & Visual Identity

When I arrived, the platform had a tech-forward aesthetic that didn’t reflect what Tai Chi practice actually feels like, and nothing that distinguished Master Ren from any other instructor online. My first projects were rebuilding the website and expanding the social media presence from the ground up. As we grew traffic and began running Google ads, demographic data started to tell a clearer story: a significant portion of the audience was women, and most visitors were beginners looking to learn at their own pace. That insight, built over time through real data, became the foundation for the rebrand.

I built the new identity around the feeling of practice: the aspiration of Chen Tai Chi’s physicality — its strikes, jumps, and kicks — alongside the calm, health, and emotional wellbeing that comes from opening the meridian pathways through consistent training. Both are authentic to Chen style, and both needed to show up in the brand. I shifted the visual language toward something more balanced and serene without losing the power that defines the art, creating a look and feel that resonated equally with the boldness Master Ren embodies and the peace students are seeking.

Technical Infrastructure

One of the most impactful early projects was a full e-commerce migration. The platform’s purchasing system was connected only through Stripe directly to LearnDash, which limited sales visibility. I migrated everything to WooCommerce and integrated WooCommerce Subscriptions and WooCommerce Box Office creating the infrastructure for the membership program and live event tickets that became important parts of the business. For the first time, sales data was accessible across the organization, which opened the door to the data-driven decision making that shaped our strategy going forward.

I managed the full WordPress ecosystem throughout: BuddyBoss, LearnDash, Elementor Pro, and HubSpot for marketing automation.

Content Creation & Social Media

Chi Force’s social presence when I joined was limited to Facebook and Instagram. I expanded to YouTube and TikTok and built a content strategy from the ground up. In that first year, the focus was on inspirational and educational content, and event promotion which included videos of Master Ren in practice, and material that explained what Chen Tai Chi actually is and why it’s different from the softer styles most people recognize. I also began pulling clips from existing course material and posting them as standalone content; some performed very well and served as a natural funnel back to the full products. The result was 1,000% social media growth in year one.

As the content operation matured, I added a second layer: recording Chi Force community members and guest speakers in conversations about Tai Chi topics and editing those into short-form clips which became an efficient, and easy ongoing pipeline for content. I photographed Master Ren and other practitioners for all product and marketing assets, filmed live seminars and technique demonstrations, compiled course transcripts, designed all course graphics, and created student activity guides to support learners through their training. When video editing was needed for the Senior Chi course, I handled that too.

Marketing Strategy & Analytics

The majority of Chi Force’s marketing ideas and campaigns originated with me. I wrote the bulk of the website copy, landing pages, and newsletters, applying Tai Chi-specific language that honors the art and lineage and resonates authentically with practitioners and newcomers alike. When a digital marketing manager joined the team, I continued driving strategy — providing content direction, frameworks for sales campaigns, and guidance on each email while he executed the nurturing sequences, quizzes, and an AI chatbot. I also advised leadership to prioritize beginner-level, follow-along content and worked on bundling courses in ways that made the purchase decision easier for new students.

I consistently brought data to the strategy table. Tracking purchase patterns revealed that 75% of buyers were new customers — a strong acquisition signal that also pointed to an opportunity to build deeper retention. That insight led to recommendations around community features and gamification that gave students a sense of progress and belonging throughout their training. When team members had competing visions for the platform’s direction, data was how we found common ground.

Product Improvement & Customer Relationships

Being the primary point of contact for students, by email, phone, and social media, gave me a ground-level view of what students needed and valued. I documented feedback and patterns from student interactions and brought those insights back to the production team, which informed how we approached subsequent course releases. It’s a pattern that ran through a lot of my work at Chi Force: staying close to students, listening carefully, and translating what I heard into something the organization could act on.

The relationships I built with students went beyond troubleshooting. I approached every interaction as one practitioner talking to another, and offered genuine guidance, and treating each person with respect.

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