Meet Travis Chen of SoundMind Corporation

Today we’d like to introduce you to Travis Chen.

Travis, we appreciate you taking the time to share your story with us today. Where does your story begin?
I was born in Taipei, Taiwan, and at the age of three, my family and I immigrated to the United States. Coming from a family of immigrants to this beautiful country that we now call home — I’ve witnessed and seen the struggles that immigrants go through. Arriving in a new country, foreign to its traditions, cultures, sometimes language, customs, medical system, education system, and other living-related parts of life, I sympathize deeply with all immigrants who are so fortunate to arrive yet experience the challenges that is part of such a change. Growing up in Southern California, I’ve enjoyed the sunny weather, beaches, open space, traffic, sometimes poor pollution, but most of all, I’ve seen the diverse cultures and mesmerizing art that brings together Los Angeles. But I’ve also been lucky to visit many places around the United States and the world, including to 30 countries, which is where I’m thankful to have built my global mindset and why I call myself a global citizen.

I’m currently a senior at the University of Southern California (USC) majoring in International Relations Global Business, where I’m also the President of Society 53 — the governing board of the Student Alumni Society, building the bridge between the vast and worldwide Trojan family with current students on campus. I’ve interned for the United States Senate with California’s United States Senator Dianne Feinstein and will be returning to Amazon Web Services (AWS) in Seattle, Washington upon graduation. I’m also currently working on a mental wellness tech startup, SoundMind Corporation, where we’re building a mobile application designed to alleviate stress and anxiety for those experiencing trauma, depression and anxiety.

I’m sure you wouldn’t say it’s been obstacle free, but so far would you say the journey have been a fairly smooth road?
I spoke about being an immigrant to this country and the identity loss that comes with such a journey. Growing up in the United States nearly all of my life, even until this day, I am seen as a “foreigner” in some eyes, and have experienced the disparity that race places in the United States. I certainly do not have it as bad as I’m sure others endure and go through, but the unfortunate reality of many of our country’s automatic association between appearance and origin is challenging for immigrants to this country. It’s interesting. When I’m in the United States, I’m associated as being “Asian-American,” and for those who know my origin, “Taiwanese.” But, when I go on my annual trips to my home country of Taiwan, locals there call me American. This imbalance is captivating and one that I struggle to grapple with. But, over time, you learn to let it go and just accept. It’s the same thing with mental health — a topic now more discussed in the United States, but still not very much touched on in Asian communities because of pressures and fears, and it often being taboo. I learned about the importance of mental health in the senior year of high school when I began meditation. I want to help break the stigma about mental health in Asian communities and the stigma in general.

Thanks for sharing that. So, maybe next you can tell us a bit more about your business?
In 2020, when I was interning on Capitol Hill in Washington, DC, I met my now Co-Founder & CEO Brian Femminella. We found our shared passions of helping and giving back to our communities and decided to do something about it. So, when COVID-19 shook our world and our offices shut down and classes went fully virtual, we sat together on Zoom to build what we call today: SoundMind Corporation, where we’re on a mission to create a music therapy-based application that helps individuals experiencing trauma, depression, and anxiety through individualized music therapy, brain exercises that focus on cognitive impairments caused by a suffered trauma, and other features like a Rapid Response feature. I’m the Co-Founder and COO of the company, working day-to-day on executing our mobile application with our development team, marketing, fundraising, and envisioning the mobile application for the future.

We’re proud to be a team of college entrepreneurs, developers, designers, innovators, and researchers that are on a mission to create something so bold and unique not done before. We’re proud of the branding that we’ve created, which has taken months to work with our design team to perfect. While we know that we’re still not perfect and have lots to learn, we’re excited about what we’ve accomplished and looking forward to the future with our incredible team. Being in college and running a startup has been one of the most challenging things that I’ve done in my life. But, speaking with mentors, advisors, and investors always excites me because they’re interested in our team and what we’re building, and we’re constantly getting the feedback that they love our team’s passion for what we’re doing. To me, passion is everything and truly the key to something great.

Alright so before we go can you talk to us a bit about how people can work with you, collaborate with you or support you?
We’re always interested in looking for people to support our mission — whether that’s advice on this tech entrepreneurship journey, fundraising tactics for success, or simply if you know of a nonprofit or organization willing to share their story with us on how trauma, depression and/or anxiety has impacted their lives, we’re all ears and would love to connect with you. At SoundMind, we believe in collaboration and working with others, which is why we’re friends with many of those in the same field because we want to learn from them and their successes and failures. We believe in learning together, building fearlessly, failing quickly, and above all, resiliency.

Contact Info:

• Email: [email protected]
• Website: www.soundmind.app
• Instagram: http://instagram.com/soundmindapp
• Twitter: https://twitter.com/soundmindapp