Sere Zhang – Entrepreneurial Drive and the Quest for Artistic Expression

Sere Zhang the curator, and entrepreneur who goes by the DJ alias “Eres”, first embraced her artistic talents when she moved to the United States from Mainland China, alone, at just 15 years of age. “I wanted to be a film director, but in China, they told me those sorts of jobs were just for men,” she reflects, noting that she always saw creative expression as something that would supersede her. “In my child’s mind, I wanted something to stay when I was gone.”

After attending a fashion-forward boarding school, she moved to London to attend Central Saint Martins where she cultivated her design flourish and surrounded herself with friends, who above all, “don’t mistake my kindness for my weakness.” Within London’s creative ecosystem of artists and musicians, she flourished and later founded the Instagram page @fashionfuckeryart, a community through which Sere projected a light onto emerging artists from across the globe between 2018-2019.

Today, she’s known on the music scene for her unique mix of experimental and sultry urban sounds that attract crowds composed of members of the city’s zeitgeist of tastemakers. “In London, I got my freedom. It was the first time I lived by myself,” she says, adding that her latest venture reflects her own journey. Awa is a sleek coffee and lifestyle brand that procures coffee cherries from Yunnan, China, some 1,800 meters above sea level.

To find out what influences drive Sere, tap into our latest chapter of the Djembe Series.