Stories

July 10, 2023

SHARE:

In a world where it can be easy to feel disconnected and jaded, Serene Chan’s art is a refreshing reminder of the beauty and magic that surrounds us.

With her ability to use digital art and visual storytelling to provoke child-like wonder and capture nostalgia, Serene creates images that are not just visually stunning – but also carry a deeper message about the importance of mental health and the value of diverse cultures and communities.

Serene is a Chinese-Canadian creative and expert daydreamer who worked as a freelance traditional painter and digital illustrator for 8 years, supporting other independent musicians, writers, and artists. Alongside her art, she works full time as an accountant. Her versatile background includes her academic education in business and years of entrepreneurial experience exemplified in three of her start-up businesses.

When she’s not painting, Serene channels her artistic energy into other creative endeavors such as crafting resin crafts, thrifting, sewing, and thrift flipping.

JOURNEY TO DISCOVERING ART AS AN OUTLET

Growing up, I was extremely socially awkward and spent a lot of time in my head. I like to call myself an expert daydreamer because I spent most of my life imagining different worlds that I fit in a little bit better than this one.

When I found art as an outlet, it just made sense because it allowed me to be able to create places that defied all odds; places where stars could be captured in your hands, where dragons roam free, a place that I can call home. I was inspired by the power that all artists have- the ability to create something from nothing, especially when it doesn’t exist in the real world. 

The traditional painting came naturally to me, but my immigrant parents pressured me to conform to their ideals of what a successful individual looks like and put little emphasis on my creative passions. I followed their well-intentioned guidance and wishes for their daughter to be self-sufficient one day. I did not receive the arts education I sometimes wish I received in my 20s. I followed the motions of getting a bachelor’s in business and my accounting designation, and ended up in a corporate budgets job.

Over time, I realized that going to art school does not determine the success of an artist. If I really wanted to have an art career, I was going to make it happen regardless of whether or not I had the connections or credentials to do so.

I began my art journey in 2015, starting an art website with no idea what I was doing. I transitioned into digital illustration only 2 years ago when I finally invested in an iPad to accelerate my painting process. For the last 8 years, I spent an uncountable amount of time experimenting with different tactics to maintain a part-time art career selling prints, doing custom artwork, and applying to every open call I qualified for.

I’ve spent much of my art journey finding resources to personally develop, and reached out to countless individuals in the art industry to learn about their experiences. Ambition is what fuels my love for learning and my efforts of sharing high-quality art content with the world. Though my art career is not full-time yet, I’m still excited to continue grinding it out and seeing where it takes me.

COPING UP WITH LIFE’S CHALLENGES

My immigrant parents pressured me to assimilate with society and put little emphasis on carrying out Chinese traditions from home. So, while I became comfortable with Westernized routines, I began to feel embarrassed about my culture in my youth.

I grew up developing mental health issues from suppressing my reactions to the microaggressions around me and being unable to cope with them. As time passed, I realized that resiliency comes from releasing some of the trauma and anxiety that’s been clouding my thoughts. However, it’s also understanding that although it might never disappear, it’s a part of what makes you-you. It’s transforming into someone who is at peace with the chaos and accepts it as something that has to happen in order to grow. This is why I’m now extremely driven to teach the importance of celebrating my Asian culture and incorporating the aspect of mental health to start conversations.

One of my favorite paintings with both of these concepts is “Remembered Always.” I painted this during a time when my family was trying to navigate grief from mental health-related death. Watching my family try to recover from that trauma made me realize how death, how to grieve, and mental health rarely gets talked about in an immigrant family, especially at an early age.

Remembered Always by Serene Chan

In Chinese symbolism, cranes are often believed to carry spirits to heaven after they die. This painting depicts loss remembered by the living and hopes that their spirits are brought to a happier place. My inspiration is to educate the values and symbolism the Chinese believe in to help them ease the pain of death.

PROMOTING MENTAL WELLNESS THROUGH ART

One of the worst parts of mental health is having thoughts or feelings that you can’t control. Any form of art (drawing, writing, music, etc) can be a way to express those thoughts you have. You don’t have to be good at it, or even have any experience. Using art to convey what’s on your mind lets you manifest those feelings into something physical that you CAN control. 

I know sometimes it sounds easier than putting it into practice. Maybe your mind is drawing a blank. Maybe it’s too difficult to put into words what you’re feeling because there are no words in the dictionary that describe what you’re going through. I would recommend finding paintings, poetry, stories, or music that speaks to you. I guarantee you that there’s someone out there who has felt what you feel and was able to put it into art. Perhaps then, you’ll feel a little less alone knowing there’s someone else in this universe who understands how you feel.

Just know that your mental struggles are never too small or insignificant. You matter in this world, so please take care of yourself.

THE PAINTING PROCESS

My process requires more planning than most might think. Before I begin a painting, I focus on a feeling I want to capture. I then refer to the resources I regularly collect from the internet or everyday life. I take inspiration from different components found in my references to construct an image in my head.

After I get an idea of the scene, I create a very rough sketch and a color mock-up. About 80% of the time, I have to do in-depth research about every item I’m painting so I have a better understanding of how each component looks in the environment it’s in. This could mean understanding how the light impacts each object, understanding how the body looks in a specific pose, or even how clothes fall on the body when positioned a certain way. After all that work, then I can finally begin the fun part: painting!

I usually start with the background and paint the figures on top after. Because I did so much planning and prep work beforehand, the painting process is pretty effortless afterward. The entire process can range between 1-2 weeks. 

Usually, the painting process is done digitally on my iPad. Lately, I’ve been doing sketches in pencil on paper before taking a picture of it and continuing the sketch digitally. I find that my hand-eye coordination is better when I can feel the pencil touch paper.

SUPPORTING AND SHARING OTHER ARTISTS’ STORIES

Art is meant to be shared and to inspire each other with our individual perceptions of the world. If I have the ability to help other artists/writers/musicians further their voices by providing thought-provoking artwork that attracts people’s attention, then why not? My art business is not only meant to share my own stories and experiences but to also help others share theirs.

One of my favorite collaborations includes one with RBC and VIBE Arts, where I created two huge poster ads to be displayed in a Toronto Transit Commission Subway station in Toronto. This project was meant to promote women in art and what speaks to them as an artist. This two-panel illustration represents my present self in one painting and my discovering my past ancestry in another painting. The present self-painting depicts my safe haven- my ideal room filled with all my favorite art forms and passions. The ancestry painting depicts 6 different Chinese hidden mythologies in an alternate ancient East Asian universe. This project highlights the importance of my ancestry and how it’s deeply rooted in my identity today.

Stories That Made Me I & II by Serene Chan

Other honorable mentions include the collaborations I did with East Asian fashion and jewelry designers, such as DAWANG and Sublima Jewelry. They both focus on promoting their East Asian heritage with a modern twist, encouraging their audiences to feel beautiful and proud of being Asian while wearing their pieces. What made it extra special for me was being able to connect with other small businesses and learn about how they bring their visions to life. Being inspired by other talented artists is truly such an honor.

Chinese New Year by Serene Chan
Male Mulan & Mushu by Serene Chan

COLLABORATE WITH SERENE

I have a current collaboration with DrawaDot, where I created a piece celebrating the Lunar New Year and the concept of celebration. All proceeds of this project go toward supporting emerging artists who are striving to kick-start their art careers.

I also have a super fun collaboration with Toronto Pearson Airport coming up. So if anyone is flying to Toronto… they might just see my artwork in Arrivals in a couple of months!

My hope is that my art will inspire others to appreciate the many traditions and celebrations of Asia, and help people develop a child-like wonder everyone is capable of experiencing when viewing the world. Between just you and me, I’m in the process of illustrating a self-published book that promotes both mental health and an Asian festival.

For anyone who wants to stay updated on my work and give feedback on what they’d like to see, I encourage you to sign up for my newsletter! I send monthly updates of new art, art processes, shop updates, and painting tips/tricks. If you come along on my journey, I promise you’ll find art that helps people become daydreamers and find a sense of belonging in this world.

Website: sereneillustrations.com

Instagram: @sereneillustrations 

Related Articles

image

Stories

Steve Liu Knows How to Draw a Crowd. With TRI3E, He Wants to Help Communities Grow.

From producing shows with major artists to leading product design at Amazon and Palo Alto Networks, Steve Liu knows a thing or two about bringing people together.

With TRI3E, he’s using what he’s learned to help people, creators, businesses, and organizations build stronger communities.

Understanding What Brings People Together

Filling a venue is one thing. Getting people excited enough to bring their friends is another. Steve Liu learned that firsthand in San Francisco’s nightlife scene.

As a nightclub promoter and event producer, he helped organize shows featuring The Chainsmokers, Far East Movement, MC Jin, and comedian Ali Wong.

What stood out to Steve wasn’t just how people discovered events, but what happened when they came together. Friends brought friends, new connections formed, and people found a sense of belonging through shared experiences.

He realized that the most meaningful part of bringing people together wasn’t filling a room. It was creating experiences people genuinely enjoyed, felt part of, and wanted to share with others.

A Different Way of Looking at Problems

Outside entertainment, Steve was building a career in technology. He eventually led product design teams at Amazon and Palo Alto Networks, working on products involving cloud computing, global supply chains, and cybersecurity.

The work was different from organizing events, but it taught Steve how to approach complex, multidimensional problems. Working across technology, business, and human needs, he learned to connect different perspectives, navigate competing priorities, and turn complicated challenges into practical solutions.

His experience as an entrepreneur also gave him a firsthand understanding of how difficult it can be to grow a business, reach the right people, and keep them engaged.

Over time, those experiences started to come together. He had seen how people brought others into events and communities, and he understood how technology could help make those connections easier.

That got him thinking about what better community-building tools could look like.

Helping Communities Do More Together

Think about a restaurant planning an event, a creator looking to bring supporters together, or a community organizer trying to reach more people.

They already have people interested in what they do. The challenge is finding ways to get those people involved, keep them connected, and encourage them to bring others along.

That’s the thinking behind TRI3E (Tribe), the platform Steve is building.

TRI3E aims to help individuals, creators, businesses, and organizations build and grow their communities. Through the platform, they can share events and opportunities, invite others to participate, and give members more ways to stay involved.

For a restaurant, that could mean inviting regular customers to an event and encouraging them to bring friends. For a creator, it could mean sharing a new project with supporters. For an organization, it could mean helping members discover opportunities and meet others with similar interests.

The goal is to make it easier for people to stay involved, bring others along, and create more opportunities within their communities.

Building What’s Next

For Steve, TRI3E is an opportunity to bring together years of experience in technology, entrepreneurship, and entertainment around an idea with much broader potential.

Whether it’s a neighborhood restaurant, an independent creator, or a network like Asian Hustle Network, communities already have people who want to see them succeed.

What if those people had better ways to make that happen?

That’s the vision behind TRI3E: helping people turn their existing connections into more opportunities for their communities.

Join TRI3E

Build your community. Activate your network. Grow together.

Explore TRI3E | Connect with Steve

1-png

Stories

ChargerGoGo’s Next Chapter: GoGoSpark Brings AI-Powered Entrepreneurship to the Future of Work

ChargerGoGo built its nationwide phone charging network by betting on everyday entrepreneurs.

That bet is paying off. In 2026, ChargerGoGo landed at No. 744 on the Inc. 5000 (top 15%), No.5 in Las Vegas, and No.41 in AI and Data industry, the annual ranking of the fastest-growing private companies in America, after reporting 467% revenue growth over three years.

Led by founder and CEO June Zhu, the company has spent years helping local operators build businesses through its charging network. With GoGoSpark, it’s bringing AI into the picture.

Launched at CES 2026, GoGoSpark is ChargerGoGo’s AI-powered business copilot and operations assistant, built to help operators handle the day-to-day work of running and growing their businesses.

What Does GoGoSpark Actually Do?

As AI reshapes the workforce, the next economic opportunity is not only about making employees more productive, it is about giving more people the tools to become business owners.

GoGoSpark was built around that mission.

ChargerGoGo believes the future of work will include a growing number of people, across both white-collar and blue-collar professions, who want to build independent income, own productive assets, and operate businesses of their own. But becoming an entrepreneur requires far more than capital or a good idea. New business owners need help with sales, operations, financial decisions, technology, strategy, and the hundreds of decisions that come with running a company.

GoGoSpark is designed to put that capability in their pocket.

Serving as an AI-powered COO and business mentor available 24/7, GoGoSpark can help entrepreneurs analyze performance, identify opportunities, improve sales, troubleshoot operational issues, understand financial decisions, and determine what actions to take next.

The vision extends beyond operating ChargerGoGo stations. ChargerGoGo is building GoGoSpark as an intelligent business platform that can lower the barriers to entrepreneurship and help everyday people transition from employees into capable, technology-enabled business owners.

In an economy increasingly shaped by AI and automation, ChargerGoGo believes AI should not simply replace work. It should help more people create, own, and participate in the businesses of the future.

GoGoSpark does not replace the entrepreneur. It gives the entrepreneur a COO, an advisor, and a mentor in their pocket—so they can make better decisions and build with greater confidence.

Five Years in the Making

GoGoSpark came out of five years of working directly with thousands of operators, partners, and small business owners.

Over that time, ChargerGoGo saw the same kinds of questions come up again and again: How do I sell this better? Why is one location outperforming another? What should I focus on next? How can I run this more efficiently?

Those real-world questions helped shape what GoGoSpark became.

Rather than building AI for the sake of having AI, ChargerGoGo built a tool around the work its operators were already doing.

As Zhu said when the platform launched, “GoGoSpark is built to be a business co-pilot, helping operators learn faster, operate smarter, and participate in the post-work economy.”

The Bigger Goal Behind GoGoSpark

The Inc. 5000 ranking is a milestone for ChargerGoGo, but Zhu has been clear that she wants the company’s growth to reach beyond ChargerGoGo itself.

When the ranking was announced, she pointed to a bigger goal: giving ChargerGoGo’s Distribution Partners the technology, infrastructure, business model, and support to grow companies of their own.

She even said she hopes to one day see those entrepreneurs make the Inc. 5000 themselves.

GoGoSpark is one way ChargerGoGo is trying to make that happen.

As AI becomes part of how companies sell, analyze data, plan, and operate, smaller business owners risk being left with fewer resources to compete. GoGoSpark brings some of those capabilities directly to the people running businesses on the ground.

ChargerGoGo’s acceptance into the NVIDIA Inception Program also marks another step in that direction as the company continues developing its AI technology.

“The future belongs to those who engage with their AI,” Zhu said at CES 2026. “Our mission is to make sure everyone has that chance.”

ChargerGoGo made the Inc. 5000 this year. If its operators eventually start appearing on that list too, GoGoSpark may have played a part in getting them there.

Discover how GoGoSpark is helping entrepreneurs grow smarter.

📍Website

image-png

Stories

The Day a Las Vegas Slot Machine Changed June Zhu’s Vision for Entrepreneurship

When June Zhu immigrated to the United States, she wasn’t chasing certainty.

She was chasing the possibility.

Like millions of immigrants before her, she believed in something uniquely American: that regardless of where someone came from, if they worked hard, solved real problems, and created value for others, they could build a better future.

That belief led her to found ChargerGoGo.

At first glance, ChargerGoGo looks like a portable phone charging company. Today, its network spans more than 6,000 locations across all 50 states, serving more than one million users.

But ask June what business she’s really building, and her answer is unexpected.

“I’m not trying to just build the biggest charging network,” she says. “I’m trying to build one of the largest entrepreneurship platforms.”

The Question Every Founder Faces

That vision wasn’t obvious in the beginning.

Like countless founders, June spent years trying to answer the same question that keeps entrepreneurs awake at night:

How do you build something nationally without billions of dollars from venture capital?

Every new market required more equipment.

Every new customer required more investment.

Growth always seemed tied to raising more capital.

The Las Vegas Moment

Then one ordinary afternoon in Las Vegas, while talking with her team, she witnessed something that unexpectedly gave her a new perspective.

A few teammates each pulled a small amount of cash from their wallets and decided to play a slot machine together.

Nobody risked very much.

If they lost, the downside was limited to a few hundred dollars each. But if they won, everyone shared in a prize far greater than they could have won individually.

“It wasn’t about the slot machine,” June recalls with a smile. “It was about the ownership.”

She watched people willingly contribute because everyone had a stake in the outcome.

At that moment, the question in her mind changed.

Instead of asking, “How can I raise enough money to own every charging station?”

She started asking, “Why should I own them all?”

What if every charging station could become an income-producing asset for a local entrepreneur?

That idea transformed ChargerGoGo.

Rather than building a company that owned every charging station, June built a platform where local entrepreneurs could own, operate, and grow businesses under a shared brand.

Every charging station became more than hardware. It became an opportunity for someone to build recurring income and grow a business within their own community.

Building an Entrepreneurship Platform

For June, that model reflects something she has admired since arriving in America.

“The greatest strength of this country isn’t just innovation,” she says. “It’s that ordinary people have the opportunity to become builders.”

Instead of measuring success solely by the size of the network, she measures it by how many entrepreneurs it helps create.

Through ChargerGoGo’s distribution partner model, local business owners can build recurring income while expanding the company’s nationwide footprint. As the platform grows, so does the number of entrepreneurs building businesses of their own.

Why Ownership Matters More Than Ever

That belief feels even more relevant as artificial intelligence reshapes the global workforce.

While much of the conversation focuses on jobs disappearing, June believes the more important conversation is about creating more owners.

“The future shouldn’t belong only to companies with the most capital or the most powerful AI,” she says. “Technology should lower the barriers for everyday people to own businesses, generate wealth, and create opportunities for their families.”

That’s why she believes entrepreneurship is becoming more important, not less.

Her vision extends far beyond portable charging.

She imagines a future where platforms, AI, and connected infrastructure allow millions of people to own income-producing businesses that once required millions of dollars to build.

Redefining the American Dream

For June, that’s what the American Dream has always meant.

Not that success is guaranteed.

But that ownership is possible.

Today, when people ask what ChargerGoGo does, she could talk about charging stations, technology, or nationwide expansion.

Instead, she prefers a simpler answer.

“We’re building a platform that helps more people become entrepreneurs.”

Because in the end, June Zhu isn’t trying to build a billion-dollar company.

She’s trying to help build thousands of million-dollar entrepreneurs.

Perhaps that’s the most powerful way to measure success: not by how much one person owns, but by how many owners they help create.

Learn more about ChargerGoGo here:

📍Website

image-png

Stories

How Stephanie Lau Jensen Turned a Personal Identity Journey Into CULTR, a Marketplace for Cultural Brands

Stephanie Lau Jensen grew up between Hawaii and California. Like many Asian American kids raised in predominantly non-Asian communities, she learned early how to move between worlds. Parts of her culture stayed in the background, not because she pushed them away, but because the environment made it easier to leave them there.

She later returned to Hawaii for college, where her father is originally from. Being there placed her in a community where Asian culture was woven into daily life through food, language, and family traditions. It was not a rediscovery, it was a reminder of what had always been hers.

Years later, as a mother of three and a founder with a background in commercial real estate investing, she built CULTR, short for Created for Culture. A curated marketplace for AAPI  and third-culture families raising kids between cultures, one that makes cultural products easy to find and part of everyday life, not just special occasions.

A Birthday Conversation That Changed Everything

The idea for CULTR took shape at one of Stephanie’s birthday gatherings. She was talking with a close friend about identity and culture when a childhood friend overheard the conversation and joked that Stephanie used to be one of them before she moved to Hawaii and really leaned into her Asian side.

Everyone laughed. Stephanie included. But the comment stayed. It put words to something she had been sitting with for years. Culture is not something that automatically transfers to the next generation. It has to be lived daily. If it is not in the house on a regular Tuesday, it probably is not there at all.

When she became a mother and started looking for books, clothing, and toys that reflected her culture, she saw the problem clearly. The products existed. The founders were there, but their work was scattered across small websites and Instagram pages, invisible to most families who needed them.

The Platform She Wished Had Existed

Stephanie’s background in real estate investing trained her to look closely at markets and recognize opportunity gaps. As she continued discovering founder-led cultural brands online, she saw a clear problem: families who wanted these products had no easy way to find them.

That realization led her to build CULTR, a curated marketplace that brings modern cultural brands from around the world into one central destination. The platform highlights independent founders, many from Asian and immigrant communities, whose products carry culture through everyday objects, from children’s books to home goods, apparel, even everyday products you would have never known were made by AAPI makers. With a refined, modern aesthetic, CULTR presents these brands in a way that feels contemporary, approachable, and deeply connected to heritage.

Building CULTR came with its own challenges because the platform did not fit neatly into an existing category. It sits somewhere between a retail marketplace and a cultural storytelling platform, which meant Stephanie had to develop the platform while also helping people understand the vision behind it.

Bringing Culture Into Everyday Family Life

For Stephanie, culture often lives in the smallest everyday objects. A children’s book written in the language your grandparents spoke, a toy tied to tradition, or a piece of clothing that carries a story can shape how the next generation understands identity and belonging.

Alongside CULTR, she is also building PenPals Collective, a project designed to spark global curiosity and connection for children, and launching a podcast called Series M that explores career, motherhood, and identity. Each project reflects her interest in connecting people across culture, family, and generation.

Through each project, and while raising three young children, Stephanie continues working toward the same goal: creating spaces where culture is not something people rediscover later in life, but something families live with every day.

Learn more about CULTR here:

📍Website