Lindsay Kuhn has had her fair share of career paths. She has worked as a freelance journalist, an engineer for Boeing and a startup founder; she also recently earned a Ph.D. in material science from Brown University.
One thing was consistent in those diverse jobs, Kuhn says. Each time she started a new position, she didn’t know what the experience would be like until she actually started working. That lack of clarity inspired her to launch a new platform, Inventing Heron.
Inventing Heron is a storytelling platform that allows students and aspiring professionals to explore different career paths through various types of content. The platform also has other features that help students and others get a better understanding of what career path they would like to pursue.
Last week, Kuhn launched a campaign on Kickstarter with the goal of raising $50,000. The project is currently just under one-third of the way to that goal. It will close on Dec. 10.
“I think the world of work is very mysterious, and it’s hard to understand what work is really like until you talk to somebody who is doing it,” Kuhn told Rhode Island Inno. “We try to transport people into this mysterious world of work so they can make more informed decisions and just have more information, and so they know all of the opportunities that are out there and choose the best job for them.”
Kuhn first got the idea while she was pursuing her Ph.D. at Brown. She had obtained a grant from the National Science Foundation that ultimately led to her teaching a seventh-grade science class once a week for two years.
Over time, Kuhn realized the students in her class did not really grasp what they were learning, nor how it tied into the bigger picture. She launched Inventing Heron to help these young students understand how their school lessons could contribute to their eventual careers.
Kuhn first started the venture as a part-time side hustle in 2014. She teamed up with a group of people who also shared her passion and had them reach out to and write stories about people in their lives, specifically regarding what drove their career decisions and what their jobs were actually like.
After completing her Ph.D. last year, Kuhn took the plunge and went full-time on the venture. Her team has now completed 700 stories of different people and their careers, 40 of which are miniature video documentaries.
Kuhn said she has a team of journalists who approach the interviews more like news stories. The company’s interviewing style is inspired by the famous radio journalist Louis “Studs” Terkel, who brought a human element to his storytelling.
“I think work is a really beautiful context to learn about the world,” Kuhn said. “We try to really understand who they are and what motivated them to get them there. Talking about work is sort of like a window into their world... It’s quite amazing.”
In addition to storytelling, Inventing Heron has also worked with various schools to develop lesson plans around these stories, including career exploration courses for students in middle and high schools.
The company has also developed a range of career launchpad kits that provide lesson plans to help people learn about different career paths, start planning and working toward their own careers.
Funds from the Kickstarter will help improve the platform’s functionality, including the addition of educator dashboards, and fuel more content creation and marketing. Those who donate to the campaign can become eligible to receive Inventing Heron’s new book, “What Is Work?: 100 Delightfully Curious Quotes,” and get access to the new career launchpad kits.
Inventing Heron was one of 11 local startups that participated in MassChallenge Rhode Island this year. Now, Kuhn said, the company is seeing a lot of new interest from schools. Kuhn and her team are planning to roll out a subscription plan for people to access content on the site, with different rates for individuals and schools.
Kuhn’s main goal is to help as many people as possible figure out what they want to do with their lives and show them possibilities they may have never considered before.
“[A career path] is such a fundamental decision,” she said. “It impacts your quality of life. It impacts your whole trajectory, so we are really trying to change life outcomes for the better.”
Bram Berkowitz is a contributing writer for Rhode Island Inno.
