Let's Get Talking (LGT) provides a safe space for community members, family and friends to listen, learn, and gain some wisdom from some of the best business minds in the Eayikes community. We also want to deepen connections and strengthen community bonds.

Season 08: Entrepreneurship, Investments and Business

The Panelists

Alex, Kyle & Ray were first exposed to the power of safe spaces, childlike wonder, and community in the Student Parent Orientation Program at UC Irvine. Entering college, they (and many like us) struggled with anxieties around identity and belonging. As incoming students, it set each of them on a path towards empowerment and in the ensuing years as student volunteers, they joined the SPOP community and met lifelong friends who’d later help them build Eayikes (@eayikes)– their expression of that same transformational power. They remained friends after graduation and gained community experience through organizing camps at festivals and other social experiences. Railing against traditional notions of “adulting,” they pursued a shared desire to build community and do something meaningful with their network. During the day, Kyle works in Blockchain and Social Media, while Alex and Ray in social-emotional education. For Eayikes, Kyle serves as Board Chairman, Alex as Executive Director, and Ray as Culture Director.
Kenny Azama is the founder and CEO of The Wander Club - an ecommerce brand that helps people keep their travel memories alive. To date, The Wander Club has provided over 100,000 meals to children in need through its giveback program. Kenny’s expertise lies in e-commerce strategy, digital marketing, and team building. In his free time, he loves to travel with friends, play basketball with Team Eayikes, and practice Brazilian jiu-jitsu on Ray.
Jenny Chen aka Blue (Skyblue Jenny) is a brand designer, Notion certified consultant, and coach helping creatives organize their work so they can communicate to their clients and teams with consistent clarity.
Mary Sebunya has been an educator most of my adult life. Outside that, she creates custom streetwear, and enjoy outdoor activities like kayaking, hiking and camping. Mary also runs a blog as her personal effort to change the narrative about Africa.
Michelle Snyder is a native Angeleno who uses art and writing to remain committed to community healing and social change. As a small business owner, she is not trying to replace one set of hierarchical systems with another, but instead – reimagining and redesigning the way in which the individual and community matters. Michelle is the recipient of both the Western California Journalism Society and Norm Strung Outdoor Writers Association excellence in journalism awards, and for the past ten years has taught English language arts with an emphasis in literacy and creative writing. Michelle is also a highly motivated nonprofit professional with an exceptional work ethic and close to 20 years in the nonprofit space. She received her MA in Nonprofit Program Management from Antioch University Los Angeles in 2019. In addition, she also holds the Certified Nonprofit Professional (CNP) credential, a national nonprofit credential from the Nonprofit Leadership Alliance. Michelle currently lives in Long Beach and studies non-diagnostic art therapy at UCLA Arts & Healing.
Marco and Ralph are two friends that started cooking out of their home six years ago. What started as a reason to bring friends together has now become a reason for making a living. They started out hosting pot lucks and pop ups out of their home to catering, operating a ghost kitchen, and now fostering a little section of Koreatown (Open Market). At the heart of everything is their narrative driven food that brings people together.

ABOUT EAYIKES

Starting in 2013, Eayikes connected youth from neighborhoods across the socioeconomic spectrum through arts & wilderness camps. We harnessed the power of safe space our powerful community of young professionals serving as mentors who model courage, compassion, and childlike-wonder.

We facilitated a-ha moments by cultivating an open mind to others, emphasizing activities centered on the sharing of life experiences and challenging comfort zones to self-reflect, self-explore, and build self-esteem. Our practice and learning experiences from these years continues to inform and re-affirm our path. Youth programming is able to be offered through school contracts and grants.

As our youth programs grew and more young professionals displayed change from their participation, we began to recognize the need for courage, compassion, and childlike-wonder for adults. We believe our vision of a more just and compassionate world will be more quickly attained if more adults are building community and connection in the world. Wondershop events such as Wonderfull Wednesdays simply grew from six community members coming together on a Wednesday after work. Organically, the adult community bloomed all around us. Now, we’ve channeled our collective courage, compassion, and wonder towards our most marginalized neighbors, the unhoused of LA & OC, as well as intersected our love for the outdoors and healing power of Mother Nature to create an annual camping experience.

We are committed to uplifting community health, creating more equity, and doing this work intergenerationally, as we begin seeing a return of the youth who we’ve mentored taking on larger roles as young adults in Eayikes.

[cancel] 22/05/26 Let's Get Talking! (s08.04) VIRTUAL - Entrepreneurship, Investments and Business