Alexandra Debow – swsh

Alexandra Debow is a 25 year old who was born in Canada and raised in Hong Kong. Growing up she would move around a lot, which led her to say goodbye to many of her friends. She was inspired to start swsh (somewhere somehow) to connect people who are not in the same place anymore. She studied at many NYU locations including China, Paris, and the United States. At New York University Shanghai she studied data-science, and then at New York University Tandon School of Engineering she studied computer engineering.

In 2022, Alexandra started swsh. She wanted to make an app where people from all across the world can stay connected. The app lets people create group albums to share photos and videos. She founded swsh while she was still in college, this helped her market her business because many of the college students were interested in using her app. However before she thought of swsh, she had co-founded many other businesses; including, Entrepreneurs in Action, The Entrepre女ers Network, and Alive Vibe. Entrepreneurs in Action was a community of young entrepreneurs across the globe. The Entrepre女ers Network was a podcast platform featuring women entrepreneurs. After creating these businesses, she interned at the Alibaba Group, and participated in venture capital and startup programs. Her experience with business helped her to create swsh. Then, in 2024 she became a Thiel Fellow.

Alexandra Debow is an inspiring entrepreneur for not only gen-z, but specifically young women. By creating multiple businesses she helped young entrepreneurs realize that they don’t need to wait for permission to become successful. Alexandra’s story is a great example of how gen-z is capable of starting any business as long as they have enough ambition.