Alvin Ang is no stranger to hardship, having experienced it when he was only a young kid.

His mom suffered from bipolar disorder, which eventually led to his parents filing for divorce. Despite the lack of a motherly figure in his life, the Singaporean forged a strong bond with his father and sister.

Then, at just 7 years old, Ang was diagnosed with attention-deficit/hyperactivity disorder (ADHD). He was sent to Thailand to live as a monk with the hopes that it would benefit his future. The experience in Thailand worked wonders for him, and when he moved back to Singapore, Ang transformed his life.

He discovered martial arts, and after only a couple of years, he represented his beloved nation in Brazilian Jiu-Jitsu. Along the way, the multi-talented Ang also founded the Singapore BJJ Open, a top-tier competition for all grappling lovers in the Southeast Asian country.

His biggest motivation in life is to provide for his family and save enough money to help his sister achieve her dream of becoming a neuroscientist.

Ang hopes his unbreakable warrior spirit and outstanding entrepreneurship skills will help him win “The Apprentice: ONE Championship Edition.”

Clinton Tudor wants to make the most of his second chance in life by becoming the apprentice to ONE Championship Chairman and CEO Chatri Sityodtong.

Tudor experienced a life-threatening BMX accident that left doctors doubting whether he’d ever walk again. The New Zealander persevered, however, and slowly got back to his feet despite physicians’ expectations.

But after his daughter walked away from her dreams of becoming a BMX star, that’s when Tudor fell into what he considers the saddest moment of his life.

Having given up on both his and his daughter’s chances of becoming BMX superstars, that’s when he discovered Muay Thai, and the martial art gave him new purpose. He then turned to the tech world and founded Interlike App.

Tudor now wants to use his entrepreneurial skills to show the world that other people’s expectations shouldn’t define who you are, whether in life or in the boardroom.

Eugene Chung is prepared to tackle any obstacle that gets between him and success.

The entrepreneur and digital marketing strategist was raised by a single mother in Hawaii. Although his father wasn’t present in his life, his mom worked multiple jobs and launched various companies to help support him.

Feeling neglected at home, Chung moved out on his own when he was 16 and lived in a rough area of Hawaii. He was going down a bad path, but martial arts steered him into a positive direction. Through martial arts, as well as the support of his coaches and teammates, he began to turn his life around.

Looking for a fresh start, Chung moved to New York City by himself when he was 18 years old. By watching his mom work so hard to support him during his adolescence, the Hawaii native was motivated to hustle in “The Big Apple” and provide a more comfortable life for his mother.

In 2018, Chung co-founded a creative talent agency with 20 photographers and videographers on his roster, and a year later, he started a digital and social media consultation firm. Then in 2020, he joined Forbes’ programmatic team, where he does digital marketing strategy for various agencies and brands.

As the youngest candidate on “The Apprentice: ONE Championship Edition,” Chung hopes to become ONE Chairman and CEO Chatri Sityodtong’s protege, and he also hopes to motivate the young generation to take risks and pursue their dreams.

Irina Chadsey’s hypercompetitive spirit, can-do attitude, and cognitive and emotional intelligence make her a perfect fit for all the challenges of “The Apprentice: ONE Championship Edition.”

The Russian grew up in a low-income household fighting several adversities, but she has used her upbringing as motivation to grow and achieve her goals.

For the past 10 years, she has worked for real estate giant Jones Lang LaSalle, eventually working her way up to the position of Senior Associate, where she handles investment sales activities across Asia.

In addition to building a powerful business career, Chadsey is very passionate about fitness as a way of self-expression and discipline, as well as mental and physical strength. The Russian dedicates herself to training five to six times a week, further proving there is nothing that women can’t do.

The 30-year-old believes the biggest strengths she brings to “The Apprentice: ONE Championship Edition” are resilience, excellence in all pursuits, and the ability to think outside of the box and find creative solutions to even the most difficult problems. If she can accomplish all that, then she could certainly become Chatri Sityodtong’s apprentice.

Jessica Ramella brings her problem-solving skills and resourcefulness to every challenge, and she hopes that’s what it takes to prove she can work under the Chairman and CEO of ONE Championship.

Born and raised in Venezuela, Ramella left the country’s crisis and a difficult family situation behind at 18 years old in order to create new opportunities for herself. She bounced around from country to country to chase her professional dreams in the business world.

The globetrotter has racked up a tremendous amount of experience during her journey, and she is now a Sales Director at a leading international software company.

Ramella defines her biggest asset and greatest flaw as being a perfectionist, because not only does she hold herself and the people around her to high standards, but those expectations sometimes let her down.

However, she now hopes to use her can-do attitude to set the bar high for all her competitors when she chases her next goal of becoming Chatri Sityodtong’s apprentice.

Joy Koh has turned her passion for gymnastics into her profession. She has established successful programs at international schools, opened her own gym, and judged competitions at the World-Championship level. Now, she will try to flip the script and become Chatri Sityodtong’s apprentice.

During her childhood, the Singaporean was body shamed by her gymnastics coaches and told she would never succeed. Instead of letting that experience define her, Koh was determined to develop a better way to share her passion for the sport and impact children’s lives in a positive way.

As a coach, Koh reinforces skills in her students through the power of positivity. She is less concerned with medals and championships than with seeing the incremental progression of her young gymnasts, both on and off the mats.

After a career detour heading up the operations team in Australia’s fastest-growing franchise in the F&B industry and working in data analytics in an FMCG company, she returned to her true calling of empowering the next generation.

Since then, the Singaporean has been shaping and supporting countless students, and she is internationally recognized for her proven track record.

Koh now hopes to use her ingenuity to change course and become an apprentice under Chatri Sityodtong. The 36-year-old gymnastics program director will bring her trademark positivity and strong ethics into the boardroom as she tries to achieve this goal.

Kexin Ye wants to prove she can hang with the most seasoned business professionals in the boardroom.

After her parents divorced when she was 2 years old, Kexin was raised by only her father. She developed a lot of resentment toward her mother for abandoning her, and as a teenager, she tumbled into a deep depression.

However, when Kexin was in high school, she turned from hardship to hard work. The Germany resident started her first company selling coffee beans at local markets. Her objective was to provide fair wages to coffee farmers in developing countries by eliminating the middle person.

While in university, Kexin then started a company that sold timeless jewelry at affordable prices. Nowadays, she prides herself on being an Entrepreneur in Residence in Berlin.

Kexin now hopes to use her resourcefulness under the tutelage of another resourceful entrepreneur – Chatri Sityodtong.

Lara Pearl Alvarez wants to inspire her nation as well as people across the world with her motivational life story.

Born in Baguio, Philippines, Alvarez knows what it’s like to overcome adversity. As a child, she worked long hours under the hot sun on her father’s farm, where she harvested crops and sold them at the local market.

Soon, the proud Igorot started to practice martial arts – she first learned arnis in high school, then taekwondo in college, and then wushu, a style that Baguio City’s own Team Lakay has made famous in ONE Championship. By studying martial arts, she learned important life values like discipline, compassion, humility, and integrity, which helped Alvarez succeed both professionally and personally.

When the Filipina was 22, she got pregnant by her then-boyfriend, who abandoned her and their unborn son. Once her child was born, Alvarez took on the role of both mother and father and has since raised her baby boy with the help of her family. In addition to that enormous responsibility, she works as an accountant and trains diligently with the World Champions at Team Lakay.

Now, Alvarez is ready to conquer one more obstacle: the boardroom, as she hopes to become Chatri Sityodtong’s apprentice.

Louie Sangalang started off as a rebellious teenager, but he grew into a man of integrity.

Born in Baguio, Philippines, Sangalang’s family moved often and he lived in several provinces throughout the country, where he was exposed to the harsh realities of life in a third-world nation.

As an angst-ridden youth, Sangalang got into fights, was alcohol-dependent, and became a father at the tender age of 21. After overcoming appendiceal cancer at the age of 23, however, he finished his humanities degree and got more involved in his daughter’s life.

Most notably, after his life-altering cancer experience, Sangalang began training in mixed martial arts, where he became the undefeated URCC Featherweight Champion from 2003 to 2005. In 2005, Sangalang was a semifinalist on “Kamao: Matira ang Matibay,” the first boxing reality TV show in the Philippines.

After his professional combat sports career, Sangalang worked in several industries such as microfinance, entertainment, hospitality, casinos, business process outsourcing, and insurance. Ultimately, he climbed the ranks in AXA Philippines, going from a Brand & Communications Officer to Executive Assistant to the CEO, to eventually Head of Procurement and Purchasing.

Sangalang took an early retirement and dropped out of business school to open his own procurement consulting firm and to teach at three universities in Metro Manila. His latest project involved the Metro Manila Development Authority (MMDA) and the World Bank.

In 2018, Sangalang became the first Filipino cancer survivor to finish the North Pole Marathon. In the same year, he completed the inaugural Ironman Philippines and was promoted to BJJ purple belt by Professor Fernando Salvador under the Pedro Sauer BJJ Association.

Sangalang now wants to take his business and sports acumen into the boardroom, where he hopes to become Chatri Sityodtong’s apprentice.

Monica Millington is not a cookie-cutter candidate, and she plans to continue breaking the mold during her time on “The Apprentice: ONE Championship Edition.”

The 30-year-old American comes from a family of successful real estate professionals, but she has forged her own path.

Millington beamed with an entrepreneurial spirit from an early age, selling artwork to her neighbors and handsewn clothes to her friends. The American’s self-driven talents continued throughout college as she built a portfolio of freelance graphic design and photography before working as an event planner in Texas.

In September 2020, Millington launched her most ambitious venture yet – Tropick, a men’s active leisure wear company.

Millington is driven to succeed in the face of adversity and possesses an unwavering self-belief in her talents. Never resting on her laurels, she is now embarking on her latest challenge: to become “The Apprentice.”

Nazee Sajedi has experienced tremendous success in the male-dominated aviation industry, and she has since made it her mission to encourage and empower other women, as well as mentor the younger generation of professionals.

Inspired by a family member who was an airforce pilot, Sajedi was always fascinated by the magic of flight and learned to fly at a young age. She has sold private jets, developed an on-demand helicopter booking platform, and most recently worked as the Head of Operations for a company in the air taxi industry, enabling the next generation of flight.

In addition to all of those monumental achievements, the talented American served as an advisor to NASA and volunteers her time at several women empowerment foundations.

Sajedi is motivated by new challenges, and the aviation expert plans to fly to new heights on “The Apprentice: ONE Championship Edition.”

The American wants to use her abilities as a fast learner to shine and showcase her multifaceted talents to win the high-stakes business competition.

Niraj Puran Rao wants to leave a legacy wherever he goes.

The multi-skilled entrepreneur’s resilient mindset helped him triumph throughout his career, a career that started in professional soccer in India. His dedication and commitment to playing soccer went unmatched by his peers.

Although soccer shaped him, it wasn’t paying the bills for Rao, who had greater plans in life. In search of a more lucrative career, he decided to leave the soccer field to pursue an MBA in Sports Management.

In 2017, he won India’s “Asli Champion,” a reality TV competition for the physically and mentally fittest men and women in India. A year later, he founded JOATFIT, an online fitness company to promote healthier living.

Despite his success, he felt like he was missing something and decided to expand his skill set by joining the sales team of India’s International Health, Sports & Fitness Festival in 2019.

Those experiences lead him to believe that he’s perfectly suited to be Chatri Sityodtong’s apprentice.

Ever since Paulina Purnomowati was a young child growing up in Jakarta, Indonesia, her father encouraged her to become a fearless leader.

The Indonesian has certainly lived up to her father’s words, both in her professional career and personal life.

Purnomowati, who holds an MBA in International Business & Marketing from Northeastern University in Boston, Massachusetts, has become a force on Southeast Asia’s business scene, as she has held key leadership positions at several major companies.

She served as the Country Head Indonesia at Global Brands Group Asia, the Country Manager at Inditex Indonesia, and the Country Manager Indonesia at Valiram Group.

Also, when she isn’t elevating those companies’ profiles, she is mentoring young entrepreneurs, practicing meditative dance, and participating in triathlons.

Though Purnomowati’s father and mother have passed away, the life lessons they instilled in their daughter have carried her to tremendous success, and she will undoubtedly lean on them during her time on “The Apprentice: ONE Championship Edition.”

Roman Wilson is ready to take his competitive drive to the next level on “The Apprentice: ONE Championship Edition.”

Wilson comes from a family of athletes. He was a record-setting collegiate football player at Princeton University and later played at the professional level in the Japanese X-League, starring for the Tokyo-based Asahi Beer Silver Stars. His father played in the NFL while his two brothers also played NCAA Division I collegiate football.

The athletic lifestyle has given him the knowledge and mindset to overcome difficult challenges, and Wilson knows what he needs to do in order to push himself and succeed.

He took that winning mentality to the corporate world upon graduation, securing positions at a hedge fund in Tokyo, on Wall Street, and in the Philippines with one of Southeast Asia’s largest conglomerates. Now, he is focused on investing and advising in the food and agriculture sector.

According to Wilson, knowledge is power. The virtue has helped him fit into various roles in very different cultures. He considers himself a multi-cultural bridge between Western and Eastern audiences.

With a wealth of experience from around the globe, Wilson believes he has what it takes to become Chatri Sityodtong’s apprentice in ONE Championship.

Everywhere Sho Takei has gone in his life, success has often followed him.

Takei, who attended an international high school in Shanghai, China, was a superstar athlete. The Japanese prodigy was the captain of many sports teams, and he became the only student in his school to receive the “Sportsman Of The Year” award in four consecutive years.

That athletic success eventually translated into the business world.

Takei has worked in a variety of industries since earning his Bachelor of Business Administration in Marketing from Hong Kong University Of Science And Technology.

However, he spent three glorious years as a recruiter at Uber and won the company’s Uber Pitch Competition while competing against other global employees. He used his prize money to buy an engagement ring for his then-girlfriend.

Following a brilliant stint at the tech giant, Takei left and teamed up with some ex-colleagues to launch HYRE, a digitally driven executive search and recruitment company in Tokyo with the goal of becoming one of Asia’s top agencies in the field.

Takei has been called “The Last Samurai” by his friends, as he exemplifies many of the bushido principles such as honor, courage, and loyalty – and he intends to showcase his warrior spirit on the toughest version of “The Apprentice” yet.

Teirra Kamolvattanavith’s journey has seen its share of valleys, but the 26-year-old is confident she can reach a new peak by outshining the competition.

The journalist was born and raised in Bangkok, Thailand, in a conservative household with a family member who had anger management issues. As such, Kamolvattanavith was dissuaded from speaking out and sharing her own thoughts, and unfortunately, there were a few instances when this family member became physical with her.

Eventually, Kamolvattanavith took up Muay Thai for self-defense and believes “the art of eight limbs” helped her to control her own temper. Also, she has been able to use the discipline that martial arts taught her to stand up for herself.

Kamolvattanavith later moved to the United States to pursue higher education and when she returned to Thailand, she worked in the media. She has used her voice to speak the truth and give back to her community, even earning the Best Single News Story honor at the Asian Academy Creative Awards in 2019.

Now, Kamolvattanavith hopes to knock her competition out to become Chatri Sityodtong’s apprentice.

Eric Yuan founded Zoom in 2011 to deliver happiness and bring teams together to get more done in a frictionless video environment. Zoom’s video-first unified communications platform continues to dramatically transform the way leading global enterprise companies communicate. Under Yuan’s leadership, Zoom was one of the highest-performing tech IPOs of 2019.

Prior to founding Zoom, Yuan was Corporate Vice President of Engineering at Cisco, where he was responsible for Cisco’s collaboration software development. Yuan was one of the Founding Engineers and Vice President of Engineering at Webex. Between 1997 and 2011, he grew his team from 10 engineers to more than 800 worldwide and contributed to revenue growth from $0 to more than $800 million.

Yuan has been named one of the Most Powerful People in Enterprise Tech by Business Insider. In 2018, he was named the #1 CEO of a large U.S. company by Glassdoor and EY Entrepreneur of the Year in Northern California (software category). Also in 2019, he was added to the Bloomberg 50 as a leader who changed the game in global business. Yuan is a named inventor on 11 issued and 20 pending patents in real-time collaboration.

A serial entrepreneur and software developer, Jeff Lawson co-founded Twilio in 2008 to bring communications into the world of software.

Prior to Twilio, Lawson was Co-Founder and CTO of NineStar, Founding CTO of Stubhub.com, Co-Founder, CEO, and CTO of Versity, and one of the first product managers for Amazon Web Services.

Lawson grew up in Detroit, Michigan, where he started his first company at the age of 12 doing event video production. He later deejayed his way through college and graduated from the University of Michigan. He is a father of two young boys, enjoys photography, and always makes time to hack on new software and hardware projects.

Anthony Tan is Group CEO and Co-Founder of Grab, Southeast Asia’s leading mobile technology company. By focusing on a hyperlocal business strategy and building strategic partnerships, Tan and his team transformed Grab from a taxi booking app to the market-leading O2O consumer app and open ecosystem in Southeast Asia. Today, Grab offers a diversified portfolio of services, providing access to affordable transport, food and essential goods delivery, mobile payments and financial services, and other lifestyle services.

Tan is at the forefront of the “Grab for Good” social impact program, which includes partnerships and initiatives to drive digital literacy, economic inclusion, and the development of technology skills across Southeast Asia. Grab is estimated to have contributed US$8.5 billion to Southeast Asia’s economy in the 12 months leading up to March 2020. The Grab platform empowers over 9 million microentrepreneurs, including drivers, agents, merchants, and small businesses across its geographic network of over 390 cities in eight countries across Southeast Asia.

Tan is passionate about servant leadership and serving others in his community. In his personal capacity, he supports a range of causes in the region, such as Transform Cambodia, which rescues and protects street children and offers them healthcare, education, and life skills. His leadership and vision have earned him several accolades, including Fast Company’s 100 Most Creative People in 2018, The Bloomberg 50 in 2017, and Fortune’s 40 Under 40 in 2016 and 2018. Under Tan’s leadership, Grab has also received global recognition for its innovation and impact in the region, including ranking second on Fast Company’s Most Innovative Companies in 2019, being on CNBC’s Disruptor 50 list for the last four years consecutively, and making Fortune’s Change the World list in 2020.

As Co-Founder and Group CEO of Catcha Group, Patrick Grove is recognized as one of the leading entrepreneurs in the Asia Pacific region.

Between 1999 and 2021, he took six digital businesses from start-up to IPO. These include the iProperty Group, which was acquired by REA Group in 2016 in one of the largest ever acquisitions of a Southeast Asian internet company at the time, iCar Asia, an operator of leading automobile marketplaces in Southeast Asia, and Frontier Digital Ventures, an owner and operator of leading online marketplaces in frontier markets.

Additionally, Patrick is the Co-Founder of Rev Asia, a Bursa Malaysia-listed online media and publishing company, Wild Digital, a leading tech conference in Southeast Asia, and Instahome, an online home rentals platform. In February 2021, Catcha Group listed a blank check company, Catcha Investment Corp, of which Patrick is Chairman and CEO, on the New York Stock Exchange (NYSE). The company raised an upsized US$300m in their Initial Public Offering to target technology businesses in Southeast Asia and Australia.

Over the last decade, Grove has been independently and widely recognized with numerous international awards, including Global Leader of Tomorrow and New Asian Leader by the World Economic Forum, Young Entrepreneur of the Year by the Australian Chamber of Commerce, Singapore, and Asia’s Best Young Entrepreneur by Bloomberg Business.

In 2006, Kishin RK founded RB Capital, a privately held real estate group with over US$5 billion in assets. RB Capital is focused on the acquisition and development of hospitality, commercial, and healthcare properties across Asia Pacific. Its portfolio in Singapore includes the RB Capital Building Raffles Place, EFG Bank Building along North Bridge Road, and Cuppage Terrace. In Kuala Lumpur, RB Capital owns the HSBC Building in Bukit Bintang.

Kishin launched RB Capital Hotels in 2010, which holds a bold presence in the hospitality sector following the openings of Holiday Inn Express Clarke Quay, Park Hotel Farrer Park, and Intercontinental Singapore Robertson Quay. Today, RB Capital Hotels is one of Singapore’s largest hotel owners with more than 1,200 keys.

In 2013, RB Capital expanded with the launch of RB Capital Healthcare, providing innovative and strategic real estate solutions to the healthcare industry, most recently launching Farrer Square Medical Centre.

In the same year, RB Capital acquired Robertson Quay – an extensive and heartfelt five-year regeneration project along the Singapore River. The project has since transformed Robertson Quay into one of the most trendy neighborhoods in Singapore. It is anchored by Intercontinental Singapore Robertson Quay, which adjoins The Quayside, a lifestyle, retail, and dining destination along the historic Singapore River.

In 2019, Kishin founded Tiffinlabs with the focus on converting underutilized real estate into delivery enabled kitchens combined with a brand development platform to create digital-first restaurants built for global scale. Tiffinlabs has expanded to the U.S. and EU from its home base of Singapore to bring delivery-first restaurant brands to consumers around the world through its committed global network of over 1,000 cloud kitchens.

Kishin is a member of Young President’s Organization (YPO) and sits on the board of Singapore River One and Raffles Place Alliance, which are private-public partnerships charged with rejuvenating strategic locations across Singapore. He also sits on the board of Weybourne Holdings as a non-executive director, the holding company of Dyson, and Citibank’s APAC Advisory board.

In 2015 at the age of 23, Ankiti Bose co-founded Zilingo with the vision of bridging the technology gap within the fashion and lifestyle supply chain in order to help small merchants and traders truly poise themselves for digitization.

Under her leadership, Zilingo has raised US$308 million from investors, including Temasek, EDBI, Sequoia Capital, Sofina, and notable angels such as Tim Draper and Kunal Shah. With offices in eight countries and more than 500 employees, Bose and Zilingo set out to level the playing field in the global supply chain and empower businesses with tools and software that allow them to scale efficiently.

Bose has been featured on the Forbes Asia 30 Under 30, the Global Fortune 40 Under 40, and the Global Bloomberg 50 lists in the last two years. Recently, she was named to the Singapore 100 Women in Tech List alongside esteemed women achievers. Bose also acts as a mentor on Surge, an initiative by Sequoia Capital designed to supercharge early-stage startups.

Bose has been a headline speaker at industry-leading events and webinars, sharing her insights and expertise at the World Economic Forum Virtual Briefing, the Milken Institute Asia Summit, the World Economic Forum India Economic Summit, the Fortune MPW Next Gen Summit, the Harvard Business School Asia Business Conference, the Forbes Asia Next Frontiers Webinar, and accelerateHER Asia.

At Zilingo, Bose launched SheWorkz, an initiative to finance and skill/re-skill women factory workers while empowering them to be financially independent by letting them work at their own time and space from their homes. SheWorkz has been launched in Indonesia and Thailand.

In more recent times, Bose swiftly responded to the widespread shortage of Personal Protective Equipment (PPE) during the COVID-19 pandemic by repurposing and expanding Zilingo’s network of buyers and sellers to procure and supply PPE to hospitals and governments worldwide. Adapting to changing consumer demands during mass lockdowns across countries, Bose spearheaded the company to expand its B2B offerings to multi-categories in health, household, and other essential items, on its business solutions platform, Zilingo Trade.

Karuna Murdaya is the Director of the Central Cipta Murdaya (CCM) Group, a diversified Indonesian conglomerate with a property portfolio worth US$7 billion and businesses in infrastructure, agriculture, building equipment, IT, and industry.

Murdaya received a Bachelor’s Degree in Environmental Economics and Policy Management from UC Berkeley and a Master’s Degree in Urban Planning from MIT.

He has managed large projects from initial planning and design to financing, construction, and operations, with a focus on sustainable development and energy efficiency.

Completed projects include the first BCA GoldPlus office in Indonesia at World Trade Center complex, the country’s largest convention and exhibition center JIEXPO, and the development of Jakarta’s Pondok Indah mall, which has the most annual visitors of any mall in Indonesia, among many others.

Also, Murdaya is one of the founding members of the Jakarta Property Institute and is committed to finding solutions to make the Jakarta metro area a more walkable, livable, and easier place to live.

Now, he brings all his skills and expertise to “The Apprentice: ONE Championship Edition” as a guest advisor.

Prajna Murdaya earned a Bachelor Of Science in Electrical Engineering and Master Of Science in Industrial Engineering from Stanford University.

Shortly thereafter, Murdaya founded Shoemaker Studios, a recording studio that produces music for many Indonesian pop stars. This shouldn’t come as a surprise considering he is a former member of the Stanford Fleet Street Singers, winners of the West Coast Regionals at the National Championships of Collegiate A Cappella.

The former vocalist is now the Director of Indonesia’s premier sportswear brand, Berca Sportindo, and manages the manufacturing process of its footwear. Moreover, he is the Director of Jakarta International Expo, where he oversees the operations and programming for Indonesia’s largest exhibition hall.

Murdaya will now appear as a guest advisor on “The Apprentice: ONE Championship Edition” and help mentor the 16 candidates competing for the chance to work under ONE Chairman and CEO Chatri Sityodtong.

Ever a believer in the power of technology and its disruptive yet beneficial capabilities, Sudhir Agarwal brings more than two decades of corporate leadership and management experience to his role as Founder and Chief Executive Officer of Everise. With a proven record of helping enterprises achieve long-term growth and years of overseeing corporate mergers and acquisitions, migrations, business development, outsourcing, and vendor and client management, he has spearheaded various expansions for multiple companies in the customer experience (CX) industry.

Today, Agarwal is at the helm of Everise, leading and expanding the business operations to becoming the world’s leading customer experience solutions and technology business. To realize his vision, Agarwal first partnered with Everstone Group to build Everise into a next-generation industry leader, and then he was instrumental in the acquisition of Everise by its latest partner, Brookfield Asset Management.

Agarwal began his journey in 1999 with Genpact, a global professional services firm, where he held multiple leadership roles spanning across operations and transition management as he spearheaded the company’s successful foray into Hungary and China. Following Genpact, he was a founding member of Aegis, one of the largest BPO companies in India. Growing the company from a mere five-employee operation, he scaled the operation from its humble beginnings into India, Sri Lanka, South Africa, Europe, the Middle East, Australia, Argentina, the U.S., and Asia. Agarwal then founded Sunrise BPO with a vision to create a unique customer experience company that is digitally enabled.

Coming from a family of entrepreneurs, Agarwal earned his Bachelor’s Degree in Commerce from Delhi University and his Master of Business Administration in Strategy and International Business from Manchester Business School.

As an impactful orator and thought leader in the industry, Agarwal has been regularly invited to speak at various prestigious forums across the world, including the Wharton India Economic Forum in Philadelphia, the Aspect BPO CXO Xchange roundtable in Hong Kong, the Silicon India Leadership Summit in New Delhi, and CX Asia in Singapore.

Agarwal has also won numerous prestigious awards, including Executive of the Year by Singapore Business Review’s Management Excellence Awards two consecutive times (2019, 2020) and Outstanding Leader in Asia from the Asia Corporate Excellence & Sustainability Awards (ACES). What’s more, he was named one of the 100 People Transforming Business in 2020 by Business Insider.

Melissa Kwee is the third Chief Executive Officer of the National Volunteer & Philanthropy Centre (NVPC).

Her career has involved bridging the public, private, and community sectors as an anthropologist, researcher, program designer, and social innovator. She has founded, run, and served on the boards of several nonprofit organizations and ground-up initiatives related to youth, women, the arts, prisons, community development, healthcare, and education. She is also Chairman of MHPL, a Pontiac Land company.

Kwee received the Singapore Youth Award in 2007 and the ASEAN Youth Award in 2008 for her leadership and service, and she was appointed as a Justice of the Peace in 2018.

She was educated at Harvard College and graduated magna cum laude in Social Anthropology. Also, she received a Fulbright Scholarship to study ethnic-based community leadership in Nepal.

Kwee believes that genuine friendships are the purpose of life, and she is passionate about building a culture of giving and other-centeredness where people give their best for others. She enjoys family time, learning from children, peers, elders, and strangers, and discovering new stories in the #cityofgood.

Adam Hershman joined TUMI’s product team in 2013. He quickly ascended to become Director of Product Management and Licensing, and he assumed global responsibility for many of TUMI’s most iconic and technical travel products.

Stepping into 2016, Hershman spearheaded TUMI’s Greater China growth, increasing the region’s retail footprint while initiating a series of innovative marketing campaigns and collaborations, for which he’s been awarded more than 10 regional industry accolades.

Now, as Vice President of TUMI for Asia Pacific and Middle East, Hershman continues his relentless work to perfect the journeys of customers around the region with breakthrough, technology-driven experiences and world-class service.

Hua Fung Teh is the Group President of ONE Championship. Together with Chairman and CEO Chatri Sityodtong, Teh leads the company’s management team with a focus on group strategy, international expansion, global strategic partnerships, and capital markets. He also served for a year as the company’s Chief Financial Officer.

Prior to ONE, Teh was a Principal at global private equity firm TPG Capital (TPG). As a senior member of the Southeast Asia investment team, he was responsible for the origination, execution, and portfolio management of growth and late-stage investment deals in Southeast Asia. He also served on TPG’s China and U.S. teams. Before TPG, Teh was an aviator with the Republic of Singapore Air Force (RSAF) and held leadership positions both at the RSAF and at Singapore’s Ministry of Trade and Industry, where he served as the ministry’s Formula One (F1) Project Team Leader. In that role, he helped secure the F1 Grand Prix hosting rights for Singapore and coordinated efforts between government agencies and private sector parties to execute the first night race in F1 history in 2008.

Teh holds an MBA from Harvard Business School and an MEng and BS in Electrical Engineering from the Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT), where he was a member of the men’s varsity basketball team. A Taekwondo black-belt holder, he also sits on the Global Steering Committee of the Milken Institute Young Leaders Circle and is a member of The Forum of Young Global Leaders at the World Economic Forum.

ONE Women’s Atomweight World Champion Angela Lee has always lived up to her nickname of “Unstoppable.”

The young phenom was introduced to the martial arts by her parents, a pair of highly decorated martial artists, ever since she could walk. Through hard work and perseverance, she then succeeded in every discipline at the highest level. Despite her age, she is a two-time World Pankration Champion, a 2013 Hawaii State Wrestling Champion, and a black belt in Brazilian Jiu-Jitsu.

Unsurprisingly, Lee’s competitive nature soon led her to test her skills in mixed martial arts. After making an impressive professional debut under the ONE banner in May 2015, she joined the Singapore-based Evolve Fight Team later that year and racked up five more consecutive wins. This included a thrilling five-round Bout of the Year effort over Mei Yamaguchi to claim the inaugural ONE Women’s Atomweight World Championship in May 2016.

Despite her many achievements, Lee’s most remarkable feat happened at ONE: DYNASTY OF HEROES just a year later. The atomweight queen was battling the effects of pneumonia, but she still managed to submit two-time Muay Thai World Champion Istela Nunes with an anaconda choke in her second World Title defense.

Former ONE Welterweight World Champion Ben Askren is one of the best grapplers in history. Nicknamed “Funky” due to his unorthodox style of grappling, he became a modern-day legend in America’s wrestling scene.

Askren was a two-time Wisconsin State Wrestling Champion, a two-time NCAA Division I Wrestling Champion, and compiled a stellar 153-7 record in collegiate wrestling. After representing the United States in the 2008 Summer Olympic Games in Beijing, China, Askren decided to turn his attention to mixed martial arts upon returning to the U.S.

He unsurprisingly adopted wrestling as his primary base and made his professional debut in February 2009. He went on to dominate the North American scene, capturing the Bellator Welterweight Championship and defending it repeatedly before signing with ONE Championship in late 2013. The unbeaten Askren then defeated Nobutatsu Suzuki for the ONE Welterweight World Championship in April 2015, and he held the gold until deciding to briefly retire from the sport three years later.

Now running the Askren Wrestling Academy, which has five locations in his home state of Wisconsin, the longtime welterweight king returns for “The Apprentice: ONE Championship Edition.”

ONE Heavyweight World Champion Brandon “The Truth” Vera is one of the most well-rounded heavyweight mixed martial artists on the planet. Raised in Norfolk, Virginia, he was a collegiate wrestler on scholarship at Old Dominion University, but he left after two years to enlist in the United States Air Force. He even joined the military’s Greco-Roman wrestling team.

In 1999, after being medically discharged due to an arm injury, Vera studied the art of submission grappling. Soon, he trained in mixed martial arts under some of the best coaches in the world and made a successful debut in July 2002, winning via first-round TKO. “The Truth” then spent the next 12 years competing in North America’s most popular organizations, both in the heavyweight and light heavyweight divisions.

Vera made his ONE Championship debut in December 2014 at ONE: WARRIOR’S WAY, where he stopped Igor Subora in the first round. A year later, he returned and knocked out Paul Cheng in a stunning 26 seconds to claim the inaugural ONE Heavyweight World Championship.

Now settled in Manila, he plans to develop the next generation of Filipino martial artists at his very own Alliance Training Center Philippines while maintaining his stranglehold on the World Title.

12-time Flyweight World Champion Demetrious “Mighty Mouse” Johnson is widely considered one of the greatest pound-for-pound mixed martial artists of all time. In 2018, after completely dominating the highly-competitive North American scene with a record-setting run of 11 World Title defenses, Johnson decided to make ONE Championship his new home as part of a landmark deal.

Johnson’s meteoric rise to greatness was borne of sheer determination and hard work. He grew up in incredibly adverse circumstances, being raised by his hearing-impaired mother and an abusive stepfather. However, he never let his circumstances get the better of him. Johnson became a highly successful athlete in high school, competing in several sports on the way to a second-place finish at the Washington State Wrestling Championships.

This success on the mats led him to try his hand at mixed martial arts in 2007, and resulted in one of the most incredible careers ever seen in the sport. Though he enjoyed great returns at bantamweight, a move to flyweight in 2012 saw Johnson really come into his own. He tore through several tough contenders on the way to capturing the UFC Flyweight World Championship, defending it an amazing 11 times to etch his name into history.

“Mighty Mouse” etched his name once more by defeating three of the top flyweights in Asia – including Yuya Wakamatsu, Tatsumitsu Wada, and Danny Kingad – to claim the ONE Flyweight World Grand Prix Championship in October 2019.

Georges “Rush” St-Pierre is regarded as one of the greatest mixed martial artists of all time. However, the journey toward success and his rapid rise to superstardom was never an easy one.

As a kid growing up in the tiny town of Saint-Isidore in Quebec, Canada, “Rush” was often bullied. He picked up Kyokushin karate at the age of 7 to protect himself from his tormentors. During his teenage years, St-Pierre started practicing Brazilian Jiu-Jitsu, wrestling, and boxing after being inspired by Royce Gracie’s mixed martial arts debut.

St-Pierre followed in his hero’s footsteps, made his professional debut in 2002, and like Gracie, also became an icon of the sport. His unique skill set and ability to continuously dominate opponents saw him become a 13-time Mixed Martial Arts World Champion. GSP retired in 2017, and despite earning multiple accolades such as the 2008, 2009, and 2010 Canadian Athlete of the Year award, he remains humble and committed to inspiring others to achieve greatness in life.

Since retirement, “Rush” launched the Georges St-Pierre Foundation to help troubled youths, stop bullying, and promote the importance of physical activities in school. Now, he brings his world-class talents to “The Apprentice: ONE Championship Edition.”

Being from the first family of martial arts, it should come as no surprise that living legend and sixth-degree BJJ black belt Renzo Gracie started training in Brazilian Jiu-Jitsu before he could walk. Along with his 11 brothers and sisters, he trained with many BJJ pioneers, but Rolls Gracie and Carlos Gracie Jr. had a particular influence on him, with Carlos Jr. eventually awarding Renzo with his black belt.

Drawn to testing his skills in real-life situations, Gracie took part in his first cage bout in 1992, a vale tudo-rules match in Brazil. He then relocated to the United States a few years later, determined to represent the Gracie name well in the fledgling sport of mixed martial arts. He also established his own BJJ academy in New York City – the famed Renzo Gracie Academy.

Gracie was active in mixed martial arts throughout the 1990s and early 2000s, facing an impressive list of fellow legends in organizations all around the world to great success. Along the way, he also became a two-time ADCC World Champion, and has produced several superstar World Champions in both BJJ and mixed martial arts to leave an immortal legacy.

In July 2018, he extended that legacy even further when he entered the ONE Championship Circle to fight fellow mixed martial arts icon Yuki Kondo. Despite being 51 years old, Gracie emerged victorious in this battle, as he submitted Kondo and inspired people everywhere with his extraordinary performance.

Rich “Ace” Franklin might be a multiple-time Mixed Martial Arts World Champion and a ONE Championship Vice President, but there was a time when the American was still trying to find his purpose in life.

Franklin was born and raised in Cincinnati, Ohio, where at 5 years old his parents divorced. The future mixed martial artist had to live on food subsidies to get by, but he found karate in the 1990s. The discipline helped give him direction, and “Ace” soon discovered a love for education and became a math teacher.

In 2002, however, Franklin turned 100 percent of his focus to mixed martial arts and left his job in the classroom to compete on a full-time basis. Three years later, he became a Middleweight Mixed Martial Arts World Champion and successfully defended his belt twice before making a run at the light heavyweight ranks. At the heavier weight class, he defeated several of the sport’s most dominant former World Champions.

After a legendary career, Franklin joined ONE Championship as a Vice President in May 2014, and then he launched his own reality show, “Rich Franklin’s ONE Warrior Series,” in January 2018. On the show, “Ace” scours the globe looking for the brightest up-and-coming martial arts stars.

The Cincinnati native will now use his vast experience in martial arts to challenge the 16 candidates on “The Apprentice: ONE Championship Edition.”

Commonwealth Wrestling Gold Medalist Ritu Phogat comes from a famed wrestling family. Her father, Mahavir Singh Phogat, is a legendary coach who trained several of her family members and led them to the highest levels of the sport, which ultimately inspired the hit movie “Dangal.” Phogat began her own training at the age of 8, and just a few years later, she dropped out of school to focus on her wrestling career.

Phogat won three Indian national championships in wrestling before taking gold at the 2016 Commonwealth Wrestling Championships in Singapore. The following year, she won a silver medal at the prestigious World Under-23 Wrestling Championships in Poland, becoming the first female Indian wrestler to do so in the process. She was expected by many to represent India at the 2020 Olympic Games in Tokyo, but she shocked the wrestling world when she announced that she was switching her focus to mixed martial arts instead.

She promptly moved to Singapore to join the world-renowned Evolve MMA, where she trains with multiple Muay Thai and Brazilian Jiu-Jitsu World Champions to bring her striking and submission skills up to par with her elite wrestling. Her ultimate goals are to make her country proud with her performances on the global stage and to become India’s first Mixed Martial Arts World Champion.

Multiple-time Karate World Champion Sage Northcutt stands tall among the brightest young mixed martial arts stars of today. A lifelong martial artist, Northcutt has been training under the instruction of his father since he was 4 years old, and he was an incredibly accomplished athlete in the discipline of karate. He won an astounding 77 World Titles as a youth and was even inducted into the Black Belt Magazine Hall of Fame in 2012.

Despite being thrust into the spotlight from such a young age, the man who would come to be known as “Super” never lost his focus. He turned his stunning success in karate into an impressive professional martial arts career, putting together an undefeated 15-0 kickboxing record while also competing in mixed martial arts.

Northcutt rose to prominence quickly in mixed martial arts, beginning his slate with seven straight wins in top North American promotions. In 2018, he joined the world’s best martial artists in ONE Championship on the back of three straight victories and looks set to continue shining on the global stage with his winning combination of athleticism, skill, and charisma.

In pursuit of her lifelong dreams of becoming a professional athlete, ONE Women’s Strawweight World Champion “The Panda” Xiong Jing Nan originally trained to embark on a weightlifting career, but she discovered boxing instead. Falling in love with martial arts, she first began her journey at the age of 18 as a member of the Shandong women’s boxing team and soon went on to represent China internationally.

Encouraged by her father to focus on martial arts, she flourished. After all, she was inspired by Chinese martial arts movies from an early age and has always lived by the heroic values she saw on screen. Besides standing up for the weak and bullied whenever she could, Xiong made many sacrifices to be the best in her field, moving away from home and foregoing many typical teenage activities to focus on training for competition. After adding BJJ to her arsenal, she proved to be talented in all areas, even winning a China Open BJJ Championship.

She then set her sights on competing in mixed martial arts and threw herself into it completely, training four times a day until late at night. After a stellar 12-1 run competing in her native China, she made a successful debut on the global stage of ONE Championship with an impressive knockout of April Osenio. That led her to a shot at the inaugural ONE Women’s Strawweight World Championship, which she seized with yet another knockout to make history as China’s first-ever Mixed Martial Arts World Champion.

“The Panda” has since defended the belt several times in definitive fashion, and she is determined to continue inspiring the world where possible.