About
I’m Andrew and I am a senior at Seoul International School whose interests range from branding, design, and the intricate aspects of the mind that affect one’s mental well-being. The spark for this project came both from my personal interest and eventual study of psychology in my AP Psychology class. As a student, I have come across many peers whose mental health has been negatively impacted by the daily rigors of studying, extracurricular activities, pressures to gain admission to a university, and balancing all of those while cultivating healthy relationships with others. While watching my peers and myself struggle with the high demands of being a teenager these days. My AP Psychology course opened up my eyes to the possible reasons behind these mental issues and this led me to do my own research on the impact of societal pressures on adolescent mental health. I discovered that several factors, combined with hormonal changes and identity formation, create a perfect storm of stress for many teenagers. This realization fueled my desire to pursue further studies in psychology and potentially contribute to developing better support systems for young people.
My personal interest for this project started from my experience of living in my own space in several different boarding schools in the U.S. starting from middle school and how that impacted me. I realized the impact of having my own space, which helped me to have time to explore who I really was and what made me tick. This sparked a turning point in my life.
During that period, I looked back at my past experience of operating a fashion brand and realized how much I enjoyed creating products and influencing people. I spent all my free time preparing another fashion brand that I was going to launch when I returned to South Korea. As soon as I came back, I launched my brand and redesigned my room to have a perfect personal space just like I did in the boarding school. I embarked on my journey where I eventually met the founders of different companies through my relentless cold calling/emailing and perseverance, mostly people that I believed had vision. Having conversations with people at the height of their professions, I learned from them that having a vision brings true value to my life. This got me to ask myself, what can I do to influence society?
Through these experiences I recognized the importance of having my own time and space to make decisions in my life with the final result being that I want to help others realize the importance of relaxation and mental well-being. I wanted to change people’s perception of well-being from a luxury to a necessity, and I knew that had to be my vision.
One of the best pieces of advice I have ever received from the people I networked with was that making completely new things is impossible, but mixing two existing things together is the best way to go forward. This advice was from the CEO of one of the biggest eyewear brands in the world; his brand was doing exactly what he said, they mixed eyewear with the aspect of fashion, it was viewed as a completely new concept. I transitioned from simply pursuing my interest in product making and influencing others to making changes. I began with an idea of mixing my knowledge in branding and product-making skills with the concept of well-being, adding a new value and aspect rather than just simply selling the concept of it. This seemed to me like it would make the concept of well-being more appealing to the masses.
The first step for this vision was to make a branded online game that provides a personal space for users called MindScape. I saw the possibility from the fact that there are only online programs that simply provide a guide for meditation. I viewed a mix of branded online space with guided meditation as a completely new product that is more appealing. Just like I had internal development from having my own space and time, I wanted to provide a guide for similar experiences to others.