Our Story
Get to know the team behind ZenZone and the origin of our mission
Get to know the team behind ZenZone and the origin of our mission
-B.png)
Luke is a young social entrepreneur and student-athlete from Shanghai American School Puxi. Luke's passion for innovation, social impact, youth leadership and entrepreneurship led him to found ZenZone which he saw as the intersection of his four main interests. His dedication for social impact has also driven him to co-organize, present, and compete at many various conferences hosted by organizations such as UN, FBLA, Catalyst 2030, and more. In his life outside of social entrepreneurship, Luke enjoys captaining SAS' varsity basketball team.
As a high schooler in Michigan, Mia helps expand the ZenZone platform by organizing local outreach and publicity. Heavily involved in ZenZone's digital site displays, crafting the appearance and functionality of the site through HTML coding, Mia operates as the lead technician of the team. Through her work on the app, Mia enjoys exhibiting her advocacy and encouragement of women in STEM. Outside of social entrepreneurship, she is passionate about her soccer and robotics team.
Hailing from Shanghai American School Puxi, Avi stands out as a committed student athlete with a keen enthusiasm for business and biomedical studies. His diverse interests led him to become the chief financial officer of ZenZone, leveraging his experience in KIVA Finance loan managing. Seamlessly blending his passion for business and finance, Avi is actively engaged in the mission to propel ZenZone's presence not only throughout China but also within the global business landscape.
Joanne's social media journey began unexpectedly, but it quickly became apparent that her visions and insights were one of a kind. Joanne's passion for dance and environmental protection became the driving force behind her content. She understood that her influence should not only be used to entertain, but also to educate and raise awareness about important issues. She hoped her captivating content could inspire others to take action and contribute to creating a better planet. Furthermore, she now manages two of Shanghai American School’s official Douyin accounts, accumulating millions of views. She hopes to continue that chain of success at ZenZone, become a source of inspiration for all and make significant contributions to the world.
Coming from Shanghai American School Puxi, Ethan stands out as a committed student athlete with a keen enthusiasm for business and economic studies. Being a young social entrepreneur himself, Ethan commits himself to creating social impact, seamlessly aligning with ZenZone's values. Ethan’s diverse interests and previous experiences led him to become the chief marketing officer of ZenZone, leveraging his experience in both public relations, graphic design, public speaking skills, and social media marketing.
Founder Luke Penaloza first realized how damaging social media and internet addiction is in his own life. As an avid gamer heading into his sophomore year in high school, Luke often found himself juggling video games, family responsibilities, and school work. On a fateful day in the summer of 2021, Luke's gaming equipment broke down, leaving him with hours that he previously spent gaming. He finally saw what the school administrators and parents have been saying for years: students spend too much time on the internet.
After doing research on teen mental health, Luke synthesized that many students like himself felt heavy burdens of stress caused by increasing workloads. It occurred to Luke that addiction to the internet was draining valuable time from students, especially high schoolers, all around the world, causing them to sacrifice their mental health to try and keep up with the workload. After realizing the scale to which online distractions were draining the mental health and productivity of students, Luke decided to create ZenZone. (The project was named WorkSmart at the time)
Once he identified the issue, Luke conducted market research, sought out existing solutions, and educated himself on design thinking practices. After consulting business leaders in China, taking a Wharton summer course, and spending hours refining his idea, Luke created the designs for ZenZone. ZenZone would be an app capable of blocking specified distractions to optimize users' mental health and productivity. This design was designed to be the pain-killer to poor productivity and mental health.
With a clear blueprint in mind, Luke knew that he needed to form a team to turn ZenZone into a real product. He reached out to former classmate and fellow young social entrepreneur Mia Dungan to begin working on the digital designs and diplays of ZenZone's platform. He also connected with Avi Parmar from Shanghai American School to begin introducing ZenZone to the China community through competing in startup competitions and applying for the SAS Eagle Grant. Luke also took his passion for social entrepreneurship and promoted ZenZone on a global stage by co-hosting and competing in events by Learning Planet and Global Goals Week.
As ZenZone gained traction, Luke worked with a team of paid developers to produce and distribute the app onto the web. The ZenZone team's ultimate vision of improving the mental health for everyone who suffers from internet addiction is now one step closer to fruition as the ZenZone app is now LIVE!!