About

On August 1, 2020 in Orange County, California, ShapeStem LLC launched the “Where Does It All STEM From?” professional experience sharing platform showcasing a variety of microjournies. These are stories of both women and men working in a variety of STEM fields at various stages in their careers. The purpose of this platform is to share these extraordinary stories and educate the viewers on what it means to be an effective stem. It is also to provide education on jobs and career paths that many people aren’t aware even exist. 

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For example, did you know after studying Bioengineering you could become a Customer Success Manager at Sounding Board, a company that empowers corporate leaders to fulfill their potential through developing their new managers and high potentials with cost-effective and digitally-enabled 1:1 leadership coaching? Or after studying Electrical Engineering you could become a Product Manager at Percipient.ai, developing the best-in-class computer vision and machine learning-based software for critical national security missions and applications? Or how about after studying Molecular Biology, you could be a Product Manager at Square, a company that builds common business tools in unconventional ways so more people can start, run, and grow their businesses?

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Did you know there is someone who studied Chemical Engineering that has gone on to work at Toyota in fuel-cell technology and hydrogen refueling fuel-cell vehicles? Or someone who studied Biology that is the Head of Business Development and Business Operations at Alector, a company that works to create disruptive change in the way the world treats neurodegenerative disorders? How about someone who studied Financial Engineering and Computer Science is a Manager of a Data Science team at eBay?

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WHAT IF YOU COULD HAVE ACCESS TO THESE INDIVIDUALS?

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No matter how clear or nebulous some of these paths sound, they are all unique. Each path will resonate with someone and therefore, they must be shared so people can listen, learn, and navigate the many directions that STEM academics and professions have to offer.

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So you might be wondering, what exactly is a microjourney? A microjourney is defined as a 15-20 minute story by an individual who showcases the highlights and lowlights of their professional experiences with giving just the right amount of insight and detail to send a meaningful message to their audience but not inundate the audience with so much information that the essence of the story gets lost in the detail. 

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And you also might be questioning, what does it mean to act as a stem for someone? In order to answer this question, let’s break down what the meaning of stem is. Stem is the stalk that supports a leaf, flower, or fruit. The primary functions of the stem are to support the leaves; to conduct water and minerals to the leaves, where they can be converted into usable products by photosynthesis; and to transport these products from the leaves to other parts of the plant.

 

Stems are not meant to grow in one direction. They are meant to grow in multiple directions depending how much water they are exposed to, the wind, sunlight, etc. This concept is in line with how people help people in the great journey of navigating one’s professional experience. Acting as a stem for an individual, or vice-versa, is providing assistance, guidance, and support in all different directions that ultimately elevates the individual and their professional experience. This support can be demonstrated through a variety of ways, such as providing direct input a new product idea further propagating it’s development or challenging the decision to roll out a new piece of software to customers potentially setting the business back. The important thing to understand here is the stem will not always do or say what you want them to.