Helen Zhu

After eight years in the web industry, it wasn’t long before Helen Zhu decided to branch out on her own. A Berkeley Graduate with a degree in Mechanical Engineering, Helen partnered with then roommate Corinne Chan to launch Chictopia in April of 2008. Seeking to spearhead a project that would keep their interest, the three settled on fashion; an industry that, in Helen’s words, “lacked innovation.”

Helen now enjoys doing what she loves in San Francisco, a city she calls home. While she may have gotten a perfect math score on her SATs, Helen isn’t just brains. She also has quite a knack for Salsa and Swing dancing, even belonging to a Swing dance group with husband Ricky. When she isn’t dancing, doing math, or building the Chictopia brand, you can find her watching Gossip Girl and scouring the web for more style photos of Blair Waldorf.