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Born and raised in Kauaʻi, Hawaii, Trysen Kaneshige never imagined that a series of brain injuries would redirect the course of his life. Art, which had once been a hobby, became his lifeline—a way to heal, process, and reconnect with the world around him.
What began as a personal form of therapy soon turned into a mission: to use creativity not only for his own recovery but to uplift his community and share stories that mattered.
As he experimented with murals, branding, and design, Trysen discovered that each project could bridge culture, healing, and connection in ways he had never anticipated. Through perseverance and collaboration, he began working with brands like Volcom, Olukai, and Soulection Radio, while also leading projects for schools, nonprofits, and community organizations across Hawaii.
From these experiences, Trysen founded Inspire To Create Media, a healing-centered creative agency that blends streetwear aesthetics, cultural storytelling, and design to create work that resonates far beyond the islands.
Finding Inspiration in Adversity
Trysen’s path to entrepreneurship was shaped by necessity and resilience. “I wasn’t able to work a regular job since I would have a lot of migraines or dealt with depression etc. It’s been challenging but I’ve learned to be resilient and not give up. What also inspired me was to create something for my community and for the next generation that is after me,” he recalls. The setbacks could have ended his creative ambitions, but Trysen chose to focus on what he could control: his art and his recovery.
Instead of succumbing to frustration, he saw opportunity in every challenge. He began creating small pieces, testing ideas, and using art as a method to regain focus, confidence, and purpose. These early efforts helped him realize that healing and creativity could coexist and even amplify one another.
What started as a personal journey of recovery soon became a mission to uplift others. Trysen wanted to leave something meaningful for his community and for the next generation, showing that creativity could transform not only individual lives but also the cultural landscape of Kauaʻi.
Overcoming Challenges Without a Safety Net
The road to building a creative business was far from smooth. Trysen faced difficult challenges that he considered walking away from everything, grappling with both the physical and emotional toll of head injuries. Each day was a battle between self-doubt, pain, and the desire to keep moving forward.
Beyond personal health struggles, he had no investors, no team, and no corporate backing. Every decision, every financial risk, and every project came solely from his determination and willingness to learn through trial and error. “If I had someone that saw what I was creating in the beginning, it would’ve been easier,” he admits.
Gratitude and persistence became his anchors. By embracing the lessons from failures and small victories alike, Trysen built a foundation that was resilient, flexible, and authentic. This mindset allowed him to continue pursuing his vision even when support was scarce and the path ahead was uncertain.
Turning Achievements Into Community Impact
Despite obstacles, Trysen’s journey is marked by achievements that combine personal growth with community recognition. He takes pride in consistently showing up, even on days when recovery felt impossible, and in taking creative risks that shaped the identity of his agency.
Inspire To Create Media has earned acknowledgment on multiple levels—from Proclamations by Mayor Derek Kawakami highlighting community murals and workshops to features in local newspapers chronicling his evolving projects. These recognitions validate his belief that creativity paired with purpose resonates far beyond personal satisfaction.
For Trysen, the real measure of success is impact. Each mural, logo, or art initiative tells a story and strengthens the connection between people and place, leaving a lasting mark on Kauaʻi’s cultural and creative landscape.
Building a Healing-Centered Creative Vision
At the heart of Inspire To Create Media is a philosophy that creativity can heal, connect, and inspire simultaneously. From large-scale murals to branding and apparel, every project is designed with intention, reflecting local culture while appealing to a global audience.
Trysen explains, “Art became my way to rebuild, reconnect, and serve. What began as personal recovery grew into a mission: to use art as a tool for transformation for myself, for my community, and for the next generation of island creatives.”
Today, Inspire To Create Media continues to expand its reach, bridging art, healing, and business. Trysen’s story proves that even the toughest setbacks can spark the most powerful creativity—turning personal recovery into a force that inspires communities, cultivates connection, and demonstrates that a small island studio can have a big global impact.
Follow Trysen’s journey:
📍 @trys.creates | @inspiretocreate.media
- 4 min read
Stories
The first time Vivian Kwan realized she could build something on her own terms was during her college years in the U.S. — a time that completely shifted her perspective on what a career could be.
She found herself surrounded by students who were running side hustles, freelancing, and starting companies before graduation. It was a stark contrast to her upbringing in Hong Kong.
“Back home in Hong Kong, the path was pretty clear: study hard, land a stable job, and climb the corporate ladder,” she recalls. “But in the U.S., I met people who were building something entirely their own. That inspired me to think differently.”
Curious and driven, Vivian began experimenting — running a small photography business and creating content for fun. That experiment grew into Meraki Group, a boutique talent management agency representing a diverse roster of lifestyle creators — and now a 7-figure business built entirely from the ground up.
Redefining Success as a First-Generation Founder
When Vivian launched Meraki Group in 2021, she had no network, no outside funding, and no PR machine behind her, just the belief that creators deserved better representation.
As a first-generation Asian immigrant, Vivian was raised to stay quiet and keep her head down. “But entrepreneurship requires something different,” she says. “I had to learn to advocate for myself and my talents loudly and unapologetically.”
Without big teams or resources, she leaned into what she could control: being hands-on, transparent, and relationship-driven. That boutique approach became Meraki’s unique selling point: brands and creators know they can reach Vivian directly, and that trust has allowed Meraki to thrive against the odds. Today, Meraki has closed 300+ brand campaigns with brand partners like HOKA, REI, Shark, Columbia Sportswear, Libman, Google, and UGG.
The Challenge of Balance
Motherhood has always run parallel to Vivian’s entrepreneurial journey — two worlds that demand her heart in equal measure. In the early years of Meraki, she often found herself caught between deadlines and bedtime stories, client calls and school drop-offs. The guilt was relentless: every hour spent growing the business felt like time borrowed from her children.
But over time, her perspective shifted. She began to see that showing her kids what fulfillment looked like was one of the greatest gifts she could give them. Building Meraki wasn’t just about proving something to the industry — it was about showing her children what resilience, purpose, and self-belief looked like in real life.
“My kids deserve a mother who’s confident and happy,” she says simply. “That thought keeps me grounded when things get hard.”
A Year of Growth and Gratitude
In October, the Meraki community came to life in a way that no Zoom call ever could. Vivian and her team hosted their annual NYC dinner — an intimate gathering of creators, brand partners, and friends who had helped shape the agency’s journey. The room buzzed with laughter, warm reunions, and stories that stretched back to Meraki’s earliest days.
For Vivian, it was a full-circle moment. Many of the guests were creators she had signed during the uncertainty of the pandemic — people she had championed from afar before ever shaking their hands in person. Watching them share a table, swapping stories and ideas, felt like witnessing the agency’s spirit materialise in real life.
It wasn’t a night of flashy sponsors or curated photo ops, but of genuine connection — the kind that has quietly fueled Meraki’s success from day one. “What I’m most proud of isn’t the growth,” Vivian reflects. “It’s loyalty. Many of my creators have been with me for three or four years. In an industry where talent often comes and goes, that kind of long-term commitment means everything.”
What Comes Next
As Meraki continues to grow, Vivian is laying the groundwork for a new chapter — one that strengthens the agency’s foundation while amplifying its impact. She’s focused on expanding her team and refining systems to preserve Meraki’s signature boutique quality, even as it scales.
“I’m being intentional with this next chapter,” she says. “Before stepping deeper into consulting and mentorship, I want to make sure the agency continues to run with the same care and creative integrity it was built on.”
With that foundation in place, Vivian plans to open limited consulting slots and launch educational programs for creators and emerging talent managers. Her goal is to nurture the next generation of creative leaders — empowering them to build with heart, purpose, and the courage to redefine what success can look like.
- 4 min read
Stories
When Nisha Desai and Alice Zhang met at Harvard Business School, neither of them expected that a casual conversation about their frustrations with therapy would spark the idea for something much bigger.
As they juggled graduate school and their own mental health, they often felt therapy wasn’t built for people like them – they spent more time explaining their background to their therapists than actually healing.
They realized it wasn’t just them – there’s a gap in mental healthcare that left many in the Asian and multicultural community feeling unseen and misunderstood.
That shared realization became the seed for Anise Health: a platform built to make therapy culturally attuned, accessible, and truly effective for the AAPI community.
A Problem They Both Knew Too Well
Before their paths crossed, both founders had already seen the same issue from different directions.
Nisha, who grew up in Florida in a family of healthcare entrepreneurs, had always been drawn to questions of access and equity in care. After studying finance and marketing at the University of Pennsylvania’s Wharton School and earning her MBA from Harvard, she worked in healthcare investing and later in digital product management at Humana. It was there, while helping build a mental health app, that she started hearing a troubling pattern from thousands of users – the same barriers she had personally faced.
Nisha recalls that people weren’t saying therapy didn’t work. They were saying it didn’t fit, that they didn’t feel understood.
Alice, meanwhile, came to the same conclusion through her own deeply personal experiences. Born in China, raised across Japan and Canada, and now based in New York, she calls herself a “third culture kid.” Her multicultural background gave her adaptability, but also a sense of never fully belonging anywhere.
That feeling resurfaced when she sought therapy during business school. Despite being fluent in English, she found herself translating her own emotions for her therapist – explaining why criticism from parents felt like love, or why pursuing excellence felt non-negotiable.
Alice remembers feeling exhausted after each session, explaining her background again and again, and leaving each time feeling unseen.
Building a Culturally Grounded Model of Care
After that pivotal conversation at Harvard, the two women began mapping out what culturally attuned mental health care could look like. They spoke to clinicians, patients, payors and community leaders, testing how cultural nuance could be integrated into evidence-based therapy and coaching.
They envisioned a new kind of care model: one that didn’t require clients to educate their therapists or set aside their cultural identity at the door. Instead, therapy would start from a place of understanding.
“Alice and I really built Anise to be what we believe our community has needed during our upbringing. What we kind of wished for ourselves through our own personal journeys with therapy.”
But building what didn’t yet exist came with challenges. They had to prove — to investors, clinicians, and even the broader healthcare system — that cultural context wasn’t just a “nice to have,” but essential to effective care. Many mental health professionals hadn’t been trained to deliver culturally adaptive therapy, so Anise Health had to design that framework from the ground up: provider training programs, accurate diagnostic tools, tailored care plans, curated resources and a scalable model for personalized, culturally attuned care.
Their persistence paid off. What started as late-night brainstorming sessions between classes evolved into a fully fledged mental health platform that blends clinical rigor with cultural empathy.
Growing the Movement
Since its founding, Anise Health has facilitated over 10,000 paid appointments and built a network of 60+ licensed providers across multiple states. The company is now expanding through insurance partnerships that make culturally attuned care more affordable and accessible.
Behind the scenes, Nisha leads operations and product design, while Alice drives partnerships and provider training.
Their complementary strengths, coupled with a shared sense of purpose, have helped Anise Health raise $6.4 million in funding and gain recognition as one of the top 10 most innovative Asian Pacific-led companies to watch by NYSE, Y Combinator, and Gold House.
Redefining the Future of Mental Health for Asian Communities
For both founders, Anise Health’s success goes beyond numbers. It’s about shifting how mental health is understood and delivered, starting with a community that has long been underserved and stigmatized.
“Our goal isn’t just to make care available,” Nisha says. “It’s to make it effective, culturally relevant, and sustainable within the healthcare system.”
By creating a new gold standard of culturally attuned care, Nisha and Alice aren’t just helping Asian Americans access therapy that finally feels like it speaks their language – they’re reimagining what inclusive mental health care can look like for everyone.
Learn more about Anise Health at anisehealth.co
- 5 min read
Stories
From Public Accounting to Personal Freedom
For most people in the accounting world, success looks like a corner office, a big team, and an endless stream of clients. For Angel Zhen, CPA, MST, success meant something entirely different — independence.
“I wanted to build something that valued freedom, quality, and impact,” he says. “After years in public accounting, I saw how the system rewarded long hours over real results. I knew there had to be a better way — to build a high-performing firm without sacrificing your life.”
That clarity led Angel to found Pasadena Tax CPA, a one-person practice that now generates over $500,000 in annual revenue and serves more than 300 clients nationwide. Angel’s work has earned national recognition from both CPA.com and the AICPA, including being named a 2025 Innovative Practitioner Award Finalist and 2025 Leadership Academy Selectee.
Turning Loss into Leadership
Angel’s story didn’t begin with business success. It began with loss.
“In April 2020, my dad passed away unexpectedly,” he recalls. “Because COVID hit and I was deep in tax season, I didn’t get to see him one last time. That moment changed everything — life, time, and purpose.”
Like many in Asian families, Angel describes his father as the pillar — the provider and decision-maker everyone looked up to. When he passed, Angel knew it was his turn to step up.
He moved back home to Rosemead, California, to take care of his mom and rebuild his life. What began as a moment of grief became a defining transformation. “Starting over during a pandemic forced me to innovate to survive,” he says. “I turned loss into fuel and fear into focus.”
Five years later, that focus became a thriving solo CPA firm built on innovation, strategy, and heart.
“There’s a Chinese saying, 苦尽甘来 — after bitterness comes sweetness,” Angel says softly. “Every struggle built the clarity, strength, and mindset that led me here today.”
Challenging the Traditional CPA Model
Angel’s biggest challenge wasn’t the market — it was his own mindset. As an Asian CPA, he grew up with messages about safety and stability: work hard, follow the rules, don’t take risks. But entrepreneurship demanded something different.
“I had to unlearn the belief that success required a big team, long hours, or a corporate ladder,” he explains. “I built systems, automations, and pricing models that gave me confidence and time back.”
Those systems didn’t just make him efficient — they made him exceptional. Today, Pasadena Tax CPA is recognized as one of the most efficient solo CPA firms in the nation, a model of what’s possible when technology meets intention.
His book, The Profitable Solopreneur Playbook, expands on that mission — teaching other CPAs and solo business owners how to build practices that generate both profit and freedom.
Redefining Success in the Modern Asian American Dream
Angel’s success challenges a long-held cultural narrative — that stability and ambition are mutually exclusive. His mission is to show Asian professionals that they can have both.
“For the Asian community, I want to normalize the idea that you don’t have to choose between stability and ambition,” he says. “You can honor your roots while building your own path.”
Through mentorship, education, and storytelling, he’s helping others reclaim the idea of financial independence — not as a luxury, but as a form of empowerment. His philosophy is simple but powerful: “Build with intention, clarity, and courage.”
A Beacon of Innovation and Leadership
Angel’s recognitions from CPA.com and the AICPA are more than professional honors — they’re milestones in a larger movement to modernize the accounting industry.
“Being recognized by CPA.com as one of the most innovative practitioners isn’t just about accounting,” he says. “It’s about leadership, legacy, and resilience.”
His nomination for the 2025 Innovative Practitioner Award celebrates his ability to merge technology and empathy — running a fully remote, tech-driven practice that still feels deeply personal.
🗳️Vote for Angel Zhen, CPA → cpa.com/innovative-practitioner
Rooted in Legacy, Driven by Purpose
What drives Angel today isn’t just revenue or recognition — it’s the promise he made to himself after his father’s passing: to live with intention.
“I’m proud of building a $500K+ one-person CPA firm from scratch — without a team, referrals, or outside funding,” he reflects. “It’s proof that with clarity, systems, and consistency, one person can do extraordinary things.”
Beyond his business, he continues to inspire thousands of professionals across CalCPA, Asian Hustle Network, and beyond — showing that even in an industry built on rules, creativity and freedom can lead the way.
About Angel Zhen, CPA, MST
Angel Zhen is the founder of Pasadena Tax CPA, a one-person firm serving clients nationwide with a focus on tax strategy, clarity, and efficiency. He has been recognized by CPA.com as a 2025 Innovative Practitioner Award Finalist and by the AICPA as a 2025 Leadership Academy Selectee. Angel is also the author of The Profitable Solopreneur Playbook, helping others design businesses that create both wealth and freedom.
🗳️Vote for Angel Zhen, CPA as the 2025 Innovative Practitioner
https://www.cpa.com/innovative-practitioner
Connect with Angel Zhen
LinkedIn: linkedin.com/in/angelzhencpa
Website: www.pasadenatax.cpa
- 5 min read