Pressure to Purpose: How I Built My Dream Life | Kevin Zhen at GCI St. Andrew's

Kevin Zhen is a polyglot, entrepreneur, educator and content creator dedicated to helping youth better express themselves and develop their own initiatives. Since 2016, Kevin has personally helped more than 300+ students gain acceptances into every Ivy League University and top 20 college ranging from Stanford to UVA to Carnegie Mellon.

He also loves teaching creative nonfiction, flash fiction and poetry. In total, his students have won more than 200+ writing awards, ranging from John Locke analytical essays to New York Times contests to Scholastic Gold Keys for Humor, Sci-Fi and Memoirs. When he's not teaching or editing essays, he loves to breakdance and organize dance workshops for his local community to celebrate hip-hop culture!

Time Stamps
00:00 Intro & Kevin’s background
02:26 Polyglot life & early passions
04:23 Working in my parents’ restaurant (hardest job ever)
05:02 The Elevated School: helping students tell their story
06:04 Building a YouTube channel (50k subscribers)
08:21 Life at Exeter & first big project struggles
17:53 Scaling down to scale up
19:23 Yale: breakdancing & entrepreneurship
23:16 The HomeCooked startup (social dining app)
27:24 Startup competitions, funding, and challenges
29:22 Long stressful summer: lessons learned
33:21 Post-grad uncertainty, post-grad comeback
35:28 Family struggles and scams
37:48 Your first customer matters most
44:40 Entrepreneurship at Yale (swim against the current)
49:48 Storytelling as a lifelong unlock
51:52 Finding your “why” (mine: family)
57:04 Hustle, systems, and growth mindset

Want to work with us? Visit ► www.elevated.school

How to Get Into an Ivy League School in 2024 ►    • How to Get Into the Ivy League in 2025  
Editing YOUR College Essays ► https://studio.youtube.com/playlist/P...
How to Get Into Any School ►    • How to Get Into ANY College  
Interviews With Former Students ►   • Interviewing Our Past Students!  

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