Meet Henry Zheng | COO of Peaking Duck

We had the good fortune of connecting with Henry Zheng and we’ve shared our conversation below.

Hi Henry, what do you attribute your success to?
One of the most important factors behind our success was understanding our community and demographic. We value our community and have always, from the beginning, stressed the importance of customer-based experience. Everything from buying the ticket, to walking into our events, to the in-show experience must be cohesive and welcoming. We select up-and-coming artists that the community wants to hear more of.

What should our readers know about your business?
We are Peaking Duck, an entertainment and events company. We started in September 2022, comprising of the members Wallace Fang (CEO), Uthinh Pham (CCO), and Henry Zheng (COO).

It was the summer between our sophomore and senior year, where Wallace approached us to join the Peaking Duck team. The idea sprouted from a yearn to provide as much value to up-and-coming artists as well as give a space where fans can support such artists. Wallace Fang, who is now the current CEO, started off managing a couple of DJ’s, in which he realized he needed a platform to provide value towards their performances as well as cater to their fanbase.

What birthed from such principles was Peaking Duck, a merger between experience-based shows with a local and communal feel that acts as a space for Asian Americans to showcase their talents in the entertainment industry. “I am most proud of the work that we have put in and how far we’ve come in this industry in less than a year,” says CEO Wallace Fang.

Now, Peaking Duck caters to a large crowd from many backgrounds, hosting shows at 1720 Warehouse, Circle OC, Legacy Nightclub, Origin SF and even all the way out to Nebula in NYC. Peaking Duck aims to book artists whose fans are just itching to see, as well as forming a tight-knight community where it feels as if every event go-er is also part of the Peaking Duck team. “One of our main emphases is community. We’ve always listened to who our community wants to hear next, and spent a lot of our efforts on curating an exceptional experience for our event-goers,” says COO Henry Zheng.

The Start:

Our first event was in December 2022.

With less than $20 in the bank, the anxiety and stress kicked in. Located in LA, Peaking Duck hosted their first event at 1720 Warehouse. Up to the last mere minutes of the event, we didn’t hit the marks we set ourselves, and the pressure truly kicked in.

However, despite the uncertainty looming in the air, we ended up with over 400+ people at the show as the night went on, with artists such as Adonix, DJ Seduza, and We Can’t Know Why performing. It was a small win that proved to us that Peaking Duck was something that was here to stay.

Ever since then, our growth has been fast. 3 Shows in Orange County/LA area, a nationwide tour from SF all the way to New York, and now the opening of our R&B Subsidiary “POND”, which centers around hosting consistent R&B./Hip-hop events for 18+ crowds.

But of course, all this success was not always sunshines and rainbows. There were periods of anxiety, doubts of our success, and even times where we wanted to give up. One certain event was this months’ last tour, which forced us to push our boundaries and take risks with branching into new markets. We’re blessed that companies that shared the same vision such as Apollo ID, a startup revolutionizing digital passports and wallets to a multitude of NYC venues, were willing to partner and support us. “I am Proud that we could utilize our platform not only as a creative outlet but as a celebration of our culture with other like-minded individuals”, says CCO Uthinh Pham.

Our ultimate goal is to make the festival and music experience accessible for everyone. For people to feel a sense of community and inclusion at every show, to be able to listen to the music they want to listen to, and for us to listen to the people.

Peaking Duck’s ultimatum is to continue to curate fan-favorite events that never lose sight of the community they started with, and eventually hold one large, global festival where festival goers and music listeners can get together and listen to their favorite artists and DJs.

Who else deserves some credit and recognition?
We would like to shoutout Apollo ID, for partnering with us for our NY leg of the tour, Jferrer, founder behind the “DowhatIwant” documentary for our third event, as well as the Peaking Duck team and the countless individuals who have helped shaped what Peaking Duck is today.

Website: peakingduckgroup.com

Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/peakingduckgroup/

Linkedin: https://www.linkedin.com/company/peaking-duck-group/

Image Credits
Image credits to Bryan Miraflor at https://www.bryanmiraflorphoto.com/.