His love of connecting people started in Phoenix's Asian community. Now he's making an app

Social entrepreneur Tony Chanthavong's passion is discovering local communities and bringing them into the limelight.

Chanthavong, also known as Tony Ce, has spent half of his life in Phoenix. His motto is "Raised as a Los Angelino. Rising as a Phoenician." He feels Phoenix is special not only for its diversity but its strong support when it comes to local businesses. After feeling that many cultural events and festivals only went noticed through word of mouth, he felt the need to use technology to give these local communities a voice.

“Phoenix has big city dreams but has small town vibes," Chanthavong said.

Chanthavong is a co-founder of the social media app LocalBuzz. The community-driven platform highlights local food spots, businesses, arts, culture, events and more through videos. He feels community is universal, and that people want to connect through things happening in their communities.

“LocalBuzz helps break that barrier too of discovering what’s going on in different communities so they could feel connected to them and be part of it," he said.

Interest in helping people connect started with Asian community events

Chanthavong feels the app gives a voice to local communities and wants to use it to bridge many of them together. Not only does the app highlight a variety of businesses, but it also brings attention to the Asian community.

“We’re all human, we share a common interest. When we share those common interests and highlight those then it breaks the barrier of judgmental and racism and prejudice.”

Being Asian American himself, Chanthavong has been involved in many events throughout Phoenix highlighting the Asian community. He was a part of the Arizona Asian Chamber of Commerce, where he helped spearhead PHX Night Market, an open-air market that highlighted local Asian street food. He also created Snoh Ice Shavery where he participated in many festivals and Chinese cultural events.

"When I opened up Snoh almost 10 years ago, it was one of the first Asian American dessert stops in central Phoenix," he said.

Chanthavong became connected with more diverse communities while owning Snoh. He was introduced to many groups while being a vendor for cultural events and festivals. By building a social network Chanthavong made his business successful — now he's doing the same with his app.

While Chanthavong said he has passed management of Snoh to someone else, he carries his passion for highlighting local communities through LocalBuzz.

Sami Ibrahim has been a good friend of Chanthavong for many years. She is a colleague through LocalBuzz and helps connect businesses while teaching them how to use the app.

“It’s great working with him because he sees the beauty in everything," she said.

Ibrahim said when she first moved to Phoenix, she felt Asian culture was not being highlighted a lot in the Valley, but also feels Chanthavong has changed that.

“He’s just a great person that likes to bring diverse people together and sees the beauty in all these differences in cultures and businesses and art.”

Using his passion to bring attention to communities that can go unnoticed

Chanthavong feels his personality is about supporting others. After meeting so many different people with so many different ethnic backgrounds, he knew he wanted the community to know of their events.

“I just see all these people, communities I’ve connected with and I always feel like man, this is special.”

If there's one thing Chanthavong exudes when it comes to his business, it's passion. He feels that when it comes to start-ups "you have to be obsessed with what you're doing." Ibrahim feels Chanthavong's passion encourages her to want to be more a part of the local community.

Chanthavong is eager to continue building up his app and getting the opportunity to do something special for the communities in Phoenix that may go unnoticed.

"The rewarding part is to see that the goal that I’m trying to accomplish is starting to come afloat.”

Reach breaking news reporter Caroleina Hassett at caroleina.hassett@arizonarepublic.com or on Twitter @lena_hassett.

This story is part of the Faces of Arizona series. Have feedback or ideas on who we should cover? Send them to editor Kaila White at kaila.white@arizonarepublic.com.​​

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This article originally appeared on Arizona Republic: Tony Chanthavong, known in Phoenix Asian community, makes social app