story of impact: how one alum is helping Bruins find peace - Sharon Chen ’06

In the middle of UCLA’s bustling campus, where solitude is scarce and silence even more so, Sharon Chen ’06 is offering students a rare commodity: the freedom to pause. Her solution is simple: a private, sound-dampended pod where students can step away from noise and simply be alone.

Chen, a Business Economics alumna, didn’t come to this work from a boardroom brainstorm. As a teenager, she watched a younger sister struggle with depression—pain that was easy to hide and hard to name. “She hid it so well,” Chen says. That missed chance to help became the backbone of her work.

After UCLA, Chen dove into investment banking, chasing what she calls the “expected track.” She eventually took a leap into entrepreneurship, launching a reality television show designed to help startup founders pitch their ideas. The project never made it past development. It failed…and it failed publicly. “It hit me hard,” she said. “I couldn’t even talk about it for years.”

Still, this experience shifted something within her. After what she candidly refers to as a “massive flop,” Chen left Los Angeles and relocated to Shanghai, China where she rebuilt a career in private equity focused on cross-border real estate.

Along the way, her definition of success shifted. “I’m a really good number two,” she says with the type of humility that comes from years of experience. In her view, success is about facilitating others' realization of their vision.  That mindset eventually guided her toward reimagining how campuses make space for mental well-being.

“Emotional pain isn’t always visible,” Chen notes. “If you break your arm, people can see it. With mental health, it’s easy to hide.” For students, the constant hum of activity and performance leaves little room to breathe, let alone ask for privacy. Peace Pods create a refuge to think, reflect, meditate – or simply be – without the world encroaching.

How Peace Pods Work

• App booking + smart access: Students reserve a pod in the mobile app; a smart lock grants entry at the reservation time.
  
• Sound-dampened privacy: Designed to reduce external noise for quiet reflection or confidential conversations.
  
• Real-time availability: The app shows open times and helps minimize wait.

UCLA has launched six Peace Pods on the main campus, with early placements including the UCLA Career Center. Additional campus locations are being coordinated with student-facing services. Chen’s vision extends beyond Westwood: Peace is exploring pods in coworking spaces, corporate offices, and public venues. The team is also evaluating AI-assisted features to make reservations faster and more accessible, with a long-term goal of on-demand privacy that doesn’t require membership or friction.

For Chen, Peace Pods are more than hardware. They’re a way to notice the struggles we don’t always see—and to offer practical dignity in response. “Once a Bruin, always a Bruin.” With Peace Pods, Chen is making sure every Bruin has space to simply be.

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Learn more or support the initiative at peacepod.com. Inquiries about campus partners and sponsorships can be directed through the site’s contact page, or directly to Sharon Chen at sharon@peacepod.com.

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