In Luffy Huang’s Vision for Pulse Events, Cultures Align Through EDM Music
Stories
September 22, 2024
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CEO of Pulse Events Luffy Huang made waves across New York City this past Labor Day weekend. Known as “the world’s wettest party,” the S2O event made a splash in the Brooklyn neighborhood, delivering euphoric EDM melodies with Thai-inspired traditions that stretch across borders to America.
But as the CEO of Pulse Events, his vision yearns for unity and togetherness through the power of music. Throughout the years, Luffy has been a driving force behind the diversification of the EDM festival scene, condensing the beats into a spectacular celebration of culture and community.
The Sounds of Luffy Huang’s Chinese Upbringing and American Dream
Growing up in China, his early passion for music led him to a career as a singer and TV host between 15 to 20 years ago. Encouraged by the eclectic soundscape in the U.S., his American dream for a successful music career was granted by one of the artists he was touring along with, paving the way for his move to the States.
“I grew up in China and following my passion for music, I became a singer and TV host 15 to 20 years ago. Since it was always my dream to break into the music industry in the U.S., I began touring with artists and finally came to America with one of them in 2020.”
When he arrived in the U.S., Luffy was bewildered yet determined. The hustle in a foreign land might have caught him off guard for a moment but it also helped him head towards a new direction. “I found the industry here to be very open-minded and felt inspired and encouraged to start my own entertainment company here,” he says.
Luffy left China for the U.S., driven by the fast-paced music scene.
This geographic shift is a tableau of music inspirations, cultural shock and a deepening sense of identity, all of which prompted him to create Pulse Events, an event agency focused on bridging the Eastern and Western cultures through music and community.
Cultural Harmony Through Music and Luffy Huang’s Pulse Events Journey
“What inspired me the most was seeing people of different cultures embrace shows produced in Asia and influenced by Eastern traditions,” he says.
Such ethos were themselves echoed throughout his work, by introducing a global audience to the purpose he wanted to share more of, from highlighting notable Asian creatives and talents, to celebrating the vibrant culture of the Asian community. “I realized that this experience was missing in the U.S. and it became my mission to produce shows here that expose fans to the traditions and dance community culture in Asia,” he says. “I am proud that my shows include elements like Asian night markets, lion dances and spraying water that is the Songkran Thai New Year custom.”
One of the drawbacks of starting Pulse Events in a new country, however, is the balance and harmony among different communities, especially in the U.S. where multiculturalism has long been its celebrated trademark. Yet, despite this animated diversity, Luffy needs to traverse the tricky waters of inclusivity, representation and U.S. culture:
“Turning my vision into a reality took a bit of time. But once we put on our first Pulse Events show, we learned from the process and got into a good rhythm where we put on multiple shows annually and continued to expand. One of thechallenges I face on a daily basis is figuring out how to represent Asian culture in the most authentic way possible, while having our shows appeal to a diverse audience. Striking that balance takes a lot of thought and hard work, finding the right partners to bring that to life. Another challenge I face is that English is my second language, so I sometimes have to take the extra step of using translation tools or making a greater effort to make sure my ideas are communicated correctly.”
Luffy Huang leads Pulse Events with determination, expanding the reach of Asian culture through unforgettable shows
While those challenges might have vexed him in the beginning, every show, event and festival was an emblem of the connectivity that he always has in mind for Pulse Events. The 2023 Spring Festival that Pulse Events had orchestrated last year was an EDM-heavy event to honor Lunar New Year and pull together traditional elements, joyful moments and different communities. It was the first event to infuse electronic music and Asian culture that introduced the beauty of this cultural festival to more American youths:
“I am proud of every show Pulse Events has put on and the legacy we are slowly building by making them annual. We are gearing up for our second Winter Festival in November and our third Spring Festival next year, and planning to bring back S2O after debuting it to the U.S. this past Labor Day weekend. I feel fortunate that we have established a good working relationship with one of the most famous venues in New York City and the world, The Brooklyn Mirage. I am also proud to be the founder of the Krazy Super Concert elevating K-pop in America.”
When East Meets West in Luffy Huang’s Vision for Pulse Events
As an organization that holds the same values as AHN to uplift and highlight the Asian community, AHN takes this interview as a special opportunity to explore how Asian talents are being showcased and represented in the industry. Luffy’s vision remains unchanged:
“Themission and vision of Pulse Events is to bridge the East and the West through music events that unite people of all backgrounds and educate them. Through bringing fans of all kinds together through the common love of music, we are able to open their minds and hearts to understanding Asian culture and embracing the immense talent within our community, from music producers and DJs to entrepreneurs like myself and my colleagues.”
This determination and commitment has led Luffy on a road of success, producing annual mega shows like the Lunar New Year Spring Festival, the Winter Festival and most recently S2O New York, all to celebrate cultures and unite communities through EDM. Even just at the start, Pulse Events has landed performance deals with many prominent artists in the electronic music scene, from the enigmatic Marshmello to platinum record-selling DJ Afrojack.
Luffy’s goal is clear: bridge the East and West through music, uniting fans from all backgrounds while showcasing Asian talents.
Connect With Luffy Huang
Much of Luffy’s current success comes less from pure luck and more from a consistent performance of hard work and innovation. Whether it be electric live festivals, or getting deep down into his heritage, Luffy knows better than ever that Pulse Events was a child of hustle and resilience, no matter where you came from and who you are:
“From my own journey,I believe that if you hustle hard enough and never give up on your dreams, you will succeed, even in a foreign country or place outside of your comfort zone.”
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.
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.
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.
Andre Koo Jr. isn’t just inheriting a financial empire, he’s also reshaping what it looks like in a new era of investing.
From Taiwan to New York, his latest move brings a centuries-old legacy into one of Wall Street’s fastest-growing spaces.
With K8 Capital, he’s betting that the future of wealth lies in doing more than just one thing well.
Image Source: NYU Stern
Building on a Financial Legacy
Andre Koo Jr. grew up in one of Taiwan’s most influential banking families, where scale and stability defined success. Today, that legacy spans a $16 billion family fortune and control of $480 billion in assets. But instead of staying within that system, he’s building something that looks very different.
K8 Capital, his new firm based in New York, is designed to be more flexible and forward-looking. It’s launching with a debut fund of at least $50 million, with a $500,000 minimum that signals who it’s built for. The focus is on US companies, along with early bets on AI and enterprise software, areas where growth is still taking shape.
Image Source: Sally Ride Science
A Dual Investment Approach
K8 is a fully integrated hybrid private credit and venture capital firm, combining short-duration, high-yield credit investments with long-term venture growth. Its dual strategy is designed to deliver both liquidity and capital appreciation, giving investors access to predictable income while still capturing venture upside.
What sets K8 apart is how it brings two distinct investment styles into one platform. It focuses on short-term credit deals that can generate returns relatively quickly, while also investing in startups that may take years to mature but offer strong long-term potential. This allows investors to earn steady income today while staying exposed to the companies shaping the future.
Image Source: @andrejrkoo (Instagram)
Entering a Rapidly Growing Market
Private credit has quietly grown into a market worth more than $1.5 trillion, as companies look beyond traditional banks for funding. Wealthy families like the Koos are moving in, seeing an opportunity to lend directly and capture higher returns.
K8 is already showing early signs of traction, with reported returns of at least 50 percent from short-term loans to US businesses. But for Andre, this isn’t just about performance. It’s also about carrying forward a legacy that began nearly 200 years ago with his ancestor Koh Lay Huan, while making sure it still matters in a very different financial world.
