HANNAH CHUNG ON EMPATHY

If you didn’t get to share in the mimosas and baby donuts at our very awesome September CreativeMornings, you really missed out kid.

We crammed a bunch of old and new faces into Society of Grownups to hear designer/maker/ladyboss extraordinaire Hannah Chung speak about empathy. Hannah, co-founder of Providence-based Sproutel, has spoken at numerous conferences including Design & Emotion, TEDxSomerville, IFTF, SXSW, Big Ideas Fest, and Women@TheFrontier by Singularity University and NASA. We’ll be posting the video soon, but in the meantime, check out our lightning round with this month’s speaker:

What does your morning routine look like?
I snooze my alarm 3 times (unless I have to catch a flight) and I read Skimm emails in my bed. Then I take a shower and ready to go! I try to catch 8-9 hours of sleep so that I can power through the day without the help of coffee.

Who is the most empathetic person you know and why?
Elmo from Sesame Street. I don’t know Elmo personally, but I think it’s amazing how Elmo can show love and bring laughter to anyone who is having a bad day with his cheerfulness. I’ve seen so many clips about Elmo talking about family’s death, divorce, all those serious topics with little kids. Elmo also teaches about feelings and emotions with them too. It’s so cool how a little 3-year-old character, Elmo, can relate to so many kids from different backgrounds and give them hope. I would love to meet Elmo someday.

What was your favorite toy as a child? As an adult?
I absolutely loved my Chinese checkers set. It was one of those few toys that I didn’t feel the age difference while playing the game with my parents or other older folks (like my babysitter who was a college student). I LOVE Legos and 1000 pieces or more puzzles. I’m a nerd.

Is there any chance Jerry the Bear will become intelligent enough to take over the world? 
I hope Jerry takes over the world like Elmo in a positive way. Jerry will not be a cyborg or a terminator - he’s too nice and loves kids.

What’s the most important thing you do as a maker?
I always ask for help when I don’t know things. I try to evolve my skill sets and my thought process as a maker all the time. I’m a perfectionist and I have infinite room to improve :)