Home | Ama Inc.

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OUR STORY //

Awu Chen, a young student at the University of Southern California, believed that while not everyone may be a storyteller, everyone has a story to tell. After visiting his grandmother, Yoko Kung (龔玉葉), in Taiwan and hearing her past stories, Awu was inspired to preserve her life in a meaningful and personal way – In a way that anyone can experience the story of his Ama.

In December 2017, Awu and his team flew to Taiwan to stay with Yoko Kung for two weeks. Determined to tell his Ama's story, his team visited Kung's childhood home and school, in addition to documenting her modern life and aspirations. After about two years of production, 'Ama’s Momento' is an installation experience that blends Augment and Virtual Reality technology with Projection Mapping to beautifully depict the life of Ama.

CO-FOUNDERS //

Awu Chen \| CEO Awu Chen is a mixed reality developer who has found a community of student storytellers who are passionate in building immersive experiences. This community of storytellers incorporates diverse mediums to tell their personal stories. From the beginning Awu has always been fascinated by the intersection between immersive media and the art of storytelling, the space where empathy, technology, and experience design come together to touch people personally.	Kevin Ke \| Head of Design An artist at heart, Kevin wishes to apply his multidisciplinary background in graphic design, film production, and sound design in designing spaces that will connect with all kinds of artists. For the past two years, Kevin has been creating educational media through his work at the Age of Learning, Inc. Currently, in his last year at the USC School of Cinematic Arts, Kevin is inspired to empower the creative community through immersive content creation.	Nicholas Pudjarminta \| Head of Production Born and raised in Indonesia, Nicholas Pudjarminta taught himself 3D modelling and game development at age 12. But craving a more cinematic experience, he quickly added filmmaking to his repertoire. At age 18, he moved to Los Angeles to study at the USC School of Cinematic Arts. Now he combines filmmaking and virtual spaces to explore the boundaries of how we share our experiences with one another.
Kevin Wu \| Head of Engineering Kevin Wu is a software engineer specialized in site reliability and distributed systems. He has a passion for growth, mentorship, and engineering management. Through Momento, Kevin hopes to bring VR to mass adoption by creating a scalable platform for anyone to easily create personal, immersive experiences. He is a recent graduate from USC Viterbi School of Engineering and currently working as a software engineer at Squarespace. Outside of engineering, he enjoys photography, improv, and personal	Maryyann Landlord \| Head of Story Maryyann Landlord specializes in 3D animation and experience design, focusing on interactive experiences about relationships between characters from different backgrounds. She found her passion at Carnegie Mellon University during her Disney Research, before moving to USC to complete her MFA. Currently she's exploring the potential of narrative design in immersive media to create empathetic experiences.