#23: Train the change muscle - Karen K. Burns
Her first job was as a saxophone player. Later, she worked on producing Star Wars and Fast & Furious in the Abu Dhabi desert - and absolutely hated it. Now an established IT professional, Karen K. Burns is the CEO & Co-Founder of Fyma, a computer vision company enabling data-driven urban planning.
Karen knows best what change is, on personal and professional levels. She and her co-founder launched Fyma right before the pandemic hit, only to see cities deserted.
We discuss how change starts deep inside us, why it is important to embrace and steer it and how to make decisions based on limited information. Finally, we examine how data and data-powered software will change urban space and our lives as urban dwellers.
From a jazz band to an Artificial Intelligence company
In our previous podcast episodes, we witnessed our guests' career and life pivots. Karen made multiple pivots in her life. Originally from Estonia, where she played in the jazz band, she followed her dream to be a film producer and moved to UK and Glasgow to study film production. Karen juggled a full-time job, full-time studies and film projects on weekends, and lived in different countries. It was a high-paced, dynamic but also exhausting career path.
A few years later, she came back to Estonia. That's where the story of Fyma began… Listen to the episode and learn why Estonia was an ideal launchpad to start an urban planning tech startup.
Data solutions changing urban spaces
Urban planning will inevitably become more data-driven. For that, we need comprehensive granular high-quality data that is easy to collect and analyse. This is what Karen is working on. Citizens will want to understand the ‘why’ behind each urban decision. And that's how all together data will go to the next level.
“We need to ask ‘why’ more often. This will make urban planners to back all of their decisions with data.”
Is there the right time for a change?
Karen believes that change is constant, it happens anyway. This helps her to train the change muscle for the next pivot coming. We already abandoned the concept of a life-long career, we need to expect that our current career roles will also be different in the future.
“We need to get comfortable with change, learn, and move forward.”
About Karen K. Burns
Karen is the Co-Founder and CEO of Fyma, a computer vision SaaS platform that turns cameras into predictive sensors.
She has 16+ years prior experience in IT and business development roles and she has lived and worked in the UK, South Africa, and the Middle East, both in private and public sector organizations in management positions. Karen is based in Estonia.
In this episode, you will also hear two short stories from our listeners about big changes that happened in their life
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