2024 Business Women Awards
ACHIEVEMENT HONOREE: Lindsay Kuhn
Wingspans Inc. founder
FROM THE TIME she was a teenager in Coral Springs, Fla., Lindsay Kuhn recognized the power of storytelling. Throughout her career, that power has assumed many forms.
Fast forward and an unlikely combination of a love for writing plus an engineering background has led Kuhn to launch Wingspans Inc., a Providence web-based career platform that introduces young people and job hunters to role models and potential professions through storytelling videos and interviews.
“We help students and adult learners achieve fulfilling and sustainable careers, and help employers attract talent and meet their DEI [diversity, equity and inclusion] initiatives,” Kuhn said.
After graduating college, Kuhn moved to Southern California and took a job at the Boeing Satellite Development Center, a major business unit of Boeing Defense, Space & Security, a division of the Boeing Co. It was an accelerated program that exposed her to many areas. She analyzed spacecraft components and determined temperature requirements for conditions in space. She also designed a centerline landing gear door for a future C-17, a large military transport airplane.
After six years, Kuhn left the aerospace industry. Kuhn opted for a career in sustainable energy, which brought her to Providence and a doctorate program at Brown University. That’s when she knew it was time to launch Wingspans.
Today, Wingspans is a two-sided marketplace serving employers and educators, sharing career stories to help and inspire students and job seekers. Users can watch videos of more than 700 interviews with professionals in the trades, the arts, technology and business sectors.
Wingspans’ approach is inspired by Studs Terkel, a writer who told oral histories of regular Americans, Kuhn says. Kuhn says she’s excited about growing a partnership with the micro-nanotech workforce.
“We want to give people expectations of what they can do,” she said.
Working with a chief technology officer and a team of journalists, educators and advisers, Kuhn spends her day doing demonstrations for future clients, holding meetings and following up on emails. She breaks for dinner, then may go back to work editing videos in the evening.
“At Wingspans, we work on a shoestring budget,” she said. “We’re doing a lot.”
