“I was the fat kid,” said Dennis Ai, Northwestern ’13. “The first time I mustered up the courage to tell a girl I liked her, she responded by saying, ‘But then my boyfriend would be fat.’” Through hard work, healthy lifestyle and perseverance, Ai lost weight and took control of his health. He made a better life for himself, and was inspired to help others do the same.

Ai founded JiveHealth, a for-profit startup with a mission to help kids live healthier, happier lives, and he started designing a new app that would make being healthy fun.

In March 2013 things began to heat up. His company won the “End Childhood Obesity Innovation Challenge” and was awarded a $10,000 prize to help develop their app.

In addition to the cash prize, the summit arranged for Ai’s company to receive mentorship from McKinsey & Company, Edelman, and health startup coaching firm StartupHealth.

The app launched as Easy Eater 2 and quickly hit the Top 25 in Family Games on iTunes. Since then, Ai’s company has been featured in The Economist, Forbes and Fortune.

For Ai, however, it has never been about the recognition. “I can empathize with the 25 million kids in the U.S. today who are overweight or obese,” Ai said. “I’ve been there. I know what it feels like to go through what they go through at home and school.”

Ai and his staff are now preparing for the launch of their new app, Moku Island. It is a collection of educational iPad games designed to help kids practice key skills like spelling, vocabulary and math. His first app went after Sound Body; now Ai’s tackling Sound Mind.