My Story

Hey, hi, hello.

My name is Kevin Zheng Lu, although many of my friends call me KLU, a nickname that caught on in high school. I grew up on the outskirts of Dallas in an immigrant Buddhist household, where from a young age I became fascinated by our complex relationship with nature and humanity. Although money was hard to come by, my family was rich in different aspects: hand-picked garden produce, potluck community dinners, and stand-by flights that took us around the world.

I knew that I wanted to one day go beyond my small town to explore how to create transformative impact on the lives we lead and the land we live on. This guided me to Los Angeles, where I became a proud graduate of USC Annenberg as a Brittingham Social Enterprise Lab Scholar and focused on how we can design media and technology for social innovation. Since then, I’ve led brand and content across startups, nonprofits, and venture capital for organizations like Alltruists (YC W21) and Designer Fund. I’ve also scaled communities for student entrepreneurs and launched programs for young global leaders. Most recently, I worked on content design and strategy for climate tech software at Salesforce.

Most recently, I spent time across 21 countries and 40 cities self-directing personal studies on climate innovation. Between the creamy bites of pastel de natas and dreamy blue ripples of Lake Bled, I became obsessed with beautiful nature-based solutions that harness our earth to tackle one of the most pressing issues of our time. Some other things I’m currently thinking about:

  • Inspiring more compassionate, high-humanity individuals to align their talents with their intention and purpose

  • The art of storytelling and resonant writing cultures that cultivate taste, identity, and unity

  • Shifting design from being human-centered to becoming nature-centered, where ecology and technology can work in harmony

  • Community spaces of gathering that revolve around thematic aesthetics, goals, and culinary profiles

  • The value of spirituality in how we understand our past, present, and future selves

I’m currently based in Tallinn as a Fulbright Scholar at the Tallinn University of Technology, where I’m researching Estonia's climate technology ecosystem. I’m also on a side quest for the most buttery croissants.

I hope you’ll stick around to see the journey unfold. You can reach me at hello@kevinzlu.com.

Warmly,

KLU